MONKEYS MONKEYS MONKEYS

WE PLAYED WITH MONKEYS!


The day started at about 10:30 am (we enjoy not having to wake up for work!). We took a bumpy bus ride to the Batu Caves around 45 minutes outside of the city. At the bus stop we met a cool Brit named Mike. He became our friend for the day :)

At the caves, we saw a gigantic golden statue of Buddha and several hundred steps to climb. We could already see some of the monkeys on the stairs. The monkeys have no natural food in the area and depend completely on tourists or those making the pilgrimage to the temple at the top. We bought a bunch of bananas to feed the monkeys. Almost immediately as we climbed, we were approached by monkeys. They were not shy, and occasionally aggressive. I was frightened at times. We fed them all of our bananas as we climbed, and then some Zec's crackers Nick had in his pocket.


When we got to the top, there were beautiful, immense caves. Some water dripped down. We could hear bats, but not see them. Pigeons were everywhere. The monkeys continued to hound us for more food. We gave them some coconut shavings, and were quite delighted to watch them ask for more. We all decided to buy more peanuts, a bag each. We all fed the monkeys again, the boys now allowing the monkeys to climb on them to get food from their hands. While taking the camera from Nick, I got my peanuts stolen by a cheeky monkey! We went to the end of the caves again, and finished giving away the peanuts. The monkeys were wild. One larger monkey rushed at Mike, causing him to drop his peanuts, and the monkey savored the spoils. All in all this was beyond fantastic. KL could have nothing left to show us, but would still be an ultimate success thanks to Batu Caves. Score one for the monkeys!

After we returned, we went in search of more delicious cheap food. 16 ringgits for two plates and two bottles of water. The beef was fantastic and spicy, although we noticed several cockroaches on the walls. Afterwards, we went on a walk looking for the train station from the movie Entrapment. We walked for a LONG time, with no luck. I ended up getting a bit of heat exhaustion; it was very hot and sunny outside. We found another swanky mall to cool off in. Nick had a coffee, I had a scoop of coconut ice cream. We found wifi – why could we not find the train station? Because in Entrapment, they used a totally different station, and switched the signs to say “Pudu LRT.” Totally uncool. No matter. We headed back at the hotel to rest.

After I cooled down, we had Chinese for dinner. We savored the fried flat noodles with beef, squid and egg. We adored the sizzling chicken in a sweet brown sauce with lots of red onions, corn, carrots, and peas. We loved the savory crispy friend chicken with strips of basil and scallions. Consider dinner INHALED.

Then we had hookah with Mike, it was fun. We had 2 pitchers of Carlsberg, but it took FOREVER to get the beer. It was crowded. We sat inside. Mike got a HUGE red circular chair – he looked like a king. We tried some more double apple hookah. We had lots of fun conversations. We couldn't help but laugh at all of the men belly dancing with each other – no women and no booze, why go to a bar? We also saw a monstrous rat on the way home from hookah. Ew.

Exploring Kuala Lumpur

We awoke to a super tasty breakfast at our hotel - baked beans, fresh fruit, eggs, and toast. After fueling up we walked EVERYWHERE. Once again we were amazed by the dirt versus the streamlined high rises. We love the jungle trees with vines hanging down all over the place.


Our first stop today was Bintang Walk, a popular street full of shopping and restaurants. We liked the look of some of the places and planned on returning later. From the busy Bintang we headed over to the Petronas Towers, some of the tallest buildings in the world. They were awesome. We can't wait to go inside when they are open to tourists - we plan on going in the morning in a few days from now. There was a gigantic mall at the bottom that was beyond ritzy. We have never seen so many couture name brands in one mall before. We felt under-dressed, and we also felt as though our wallets were way too light to be walking around there. After that we went to the KL Tower, but it was touristy and far too expensive to justify a trip to the top, so we skipped it. We do love all the British influence though and saw some really cool buildings as we walked around town.


We started back towards Chinatown in a roundabout way and ended up near the river. We ate lunch at a busy place right on the water. Nick had chicken and beef, I tried the beef and fish curries. We love the delicious sauces, spicy curries, and fluffy rice. It was our second time having green beans, and we were quite pleased.


After lunch we went to the bazaar. It's been around since 1888. We bought some really cool masks at a mask shop. We also got some other souvenirs for our families. We tried some white bean coffee with beet sugar at Old Town Coffee House - amazing. We really enjoyed exploring all the stalls and checking out all the cool things for sale. I like exploring with Nick :)


Later in the afternoon we went back to Bintang walk for food and fun. We enjoyed a refreshing pitcher of Carlsberg beer and tried a double apple hookah at a very chill outdoor bar. We played with the features of our new Sony camera and snacked on some delicious fried bread crisps with a rich tomato dipping sauce.


After the sun fully set we went in search of dinner. We found a Greek restaurant named Albasha and had to try it. We gorged on creamy, smooth hummus and inhaled some lamb schwarma. The lamb was served in pita wraps with heaps of spicy mayo, tomatoes, and slightly pickled cucumbers. It was most enjoyable. On the way back to the hotel we saw a cute cat. It wasn't scared of us at all.

Welcome to Malaysia

Our post-work travels have begun!


We made it safely into Malaysia via Malaysian Airlines. Malaysian Airlines was FANTASTIC. We especially loved their rainbow seats and beautiful stewardesses wearing bright dresses with busy patterns. The airline food was surprisingly delicious. We had fish curry with a salad and butter (for the first time in a while!) on our hot rolls. Overall it was a terrific flight and experience. We hope it's the first of many good flights!

When we arrived in Malaysia, there were dense forests with many short, fat palm trees. The rain followed us from Korea, and we got rained on big time during the hour long drive into Kuala Lumpur. Along the way we saw many tract homes that all looked exactly the same, in identical rows that stretched as far as we could see over the hills. The highways were clean and well kept. We got into the city and checked into our hotel in Chinatown, on Petaling Street. It was full of vendors selling all sorts of wares. It was pretty much a bombardment of purses, jeans, watches, and other trinkets. We even saw live frogs in a glass case on the street - for cooking, not for pets. The pet store does sells chipmunks, though, for 30 ringgits "a head."


After dropping off our bags, we excitedly started to explore our new area. The streets are busy and there is construction all over the place. Buildings in our immediate area are older and dirty, but full of life, and they are often juxtaposed with gorgeous streamlined glass high rises. It makes for quite the eclectic mix. The air smells of bus fumes and cooking food. The roads are made of bricks and there are lots of crowded streets, uneven surfaces, steps, and grates.


We went to a curry house for dinner that served a tantalizing buffet. We were handed a HUGE plate of rice and then piled on a bunch of random, spicy meats - beef, lamb, orange fried chicken. We also had great stewed tomatoes in a rich, soupy orange sauce and tasty green beans. We were the only people not eating with our hands. We also had this milky, hot tea drink that the server practically threw from cup to cup to mix. It was around $8 for all our food, tea, and a few bottles of water. We could get used to this.

Market Day

This was easily one of the saddest days of our lives. We knew this day would come, and we knew it would be tough - but it's hard to truly put into words how difficult it was to see these kids knowing it was the last time. We were blessed because we were able to teach them for such a long time, but leaving them was incredibly rough. We were both emotional wrecks. At least we got a wonderful field trip day to finish with.

We started the day off by doing something we had been waiting to do for quite a while - riding the school bus with our kids! We had to make a really tough decision to pick the bus, which meant choosing between different children. When we finally settled on the bus, we saddled up with our cameras and headed out. It was so nice to see the kids' surprised faces as they boarded the bus! I was lucky enough to have several kids from my class on the bus, and we had a great time riding back to Poly. The kids LOVED it.

We had "Market Day" - which is essentially a big role-play where the teachers all pretend to be doctors, immigration officers, pharmacists, and of course, waiters and face painters. It was a bit more demanding than our normal field trips, simply because we were the ones physically entertaining the kids the whole time, but nonetheless it was really, really fun. Miss Marie, naturally, painted faces. She did an AWESOME job, under massive time constraints, to the nature of about 2-3 minutes per kid. She made a list of choices for them to pick from, and pumped out about 80 face paintings across the course of the morning. I, on the other hand, was a restaurant waiter with our fellow coworker Brian. I got to wear a ridiculous bowtie and serve pizza and chocolate pies to the kids, all the while pretending we were in a real live restaurant. It was really fun!

After lunch time, we finished up market day by cycling through all of the classes. Then came the really, really hard part. Saying goodbye. It was too much. My Korean teacher, Sarah, had decorated our room and all of my kids wore their Halloween costumes to surprise me. They had a cake ready, and when I walked in they started singing one of our songs. I lost all control almost immediately, and I was a wreck throughout the remainder of our time. I felt even worse because by crying, I threw all of the kids off, and they didn't really know how to respond. It was just a lot of hugs, and crying. They cried too, a lot. It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I know Marie went through an almost identical time. Her kids started bawling, which created a contagious mass-bawling situation, which led to further inconsolable crying by kids and teachers alike. It was just really, really sad - there's not really another way to put it. I'll miss these kids so much. As I mentioned earlier, we knew it was coming, but it's hard to realize the effect they will have on you. As far as we're concerned, they were our kids. And now we're leaving our kids, which is just tough. They are all so sweet, and I'm going to miss them beyond belief.

After we both cried until our eyes were dry, we had to go do it ALL again for the afternoon classes. Luckily, since these are older kids, they understand the situation far better. You don't get any "teacher, why you leave us?" comments, and a lot more "enjoy visiting your home, please come back" comments. Not to say the afternoon goodbyes were easy, but they were easier. During our last class, Marie and I both handed over some teaching duties to the new teachers (who were observing us teach, and getting to know the kids.) Marie face painted them, and I watched movies and played games. It was fun to get to goof around one last time. Nonetheless, I'm going to miss these kids so much. I know I say that over and over, but it's the truth. They've impacted us more than I ever thought possible, and I totally understand how people choose teaching as a profession. These kids become your kids, and you feel responsible for them. Leaving them is like leaving one of your own. It's really tough.

To wrap the whole day up, we each got dozens and dozens of hand made cards, flowers, chocolates, pictures, and gifts. It was really overwhelming. We are incredibly sad to be leaving these kids and our home, but at the same time we feel really blessed that they were part of our lives. I know we'll never forget them.

Now, it's onto the next phase: getting ready for our massive vacation, and actually leaving! We'll be departing in 36 short hours, and we are heading to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia first. We'll be there for 6 days, then we take a short flight over to Singapore, where we will stay for 3 days. After that, the meat of the journey! India! Woohoo! We'll be there for 24 days, traveling the country by train. We will be staying in 8 cities, and we expect nothing short of a full adventure. Naturally, because we are both slightly obsessive when it comes to taking pictures, we will take as many as our memory cards allow (did I mention we have 1000 from our last day? Whoa.) Being that we will be without laptop or decent internet connection for the duration of our trip, we will have a mini-hiatus from blog posting. Don't be alarmed though, fellow followers! We are taking note pads so that we can write the old fashioned way, and when we return, we shall craft a blog post for all of our activities.

We're so excited to come back to the states and see everyone! We miss our family and friends so much - just a few short weeks away now! Signing off, but only temporarily...