KL on my mind
Hello friends, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur this afternoon. The city is very modern. I even took the light rail from the airport to within a few blocks of my hostel! It's been a nice mental break from the other cities I've been in.
It took me a while to realize that people here drive on the left, not the right. Maybe it took so long because in Vietnam and Cambodia, people drive on whichever side of the road suits them best.
I'm seeing McDonald's and other international companies for the first time. It's weird after not seeing that for so long.
I think I'll spend a couple days here and then I'm not entirely sure what I'm going to do next. Flexibility is great, except when you read the guidebook after you've already bought the plane flight. Unfortunately, Eastern Malaysia and Borneo are currently in rainy monsoon season. As in, Borneo is off limits till late February, early March. As is the Eastern coast of Peninsular Malaysia. There are still some parks on the peninsula I can go to and some islands on the West coast where I can go diving. I'm considering going down to Singapore (it's a half day bus trip from here) for a few days, then heading up the west coast into Thailand. I'll do my Thailand/Laos loop and if I still care to, fly to Borneo from Bangkok. So much planning!
It occurred to me today that when you take a short trip, you come home and have time to process what you've seen in your own time. I think one of the challenges of a trip of this length is while I'm trying to process the last place, I'm in the current place, trying to plan for the next place. Se la vie.
I think I will work out my itinerary over dinner!
It looks like things are more sanitary here and I won't have to suspect that every puddle contains human waste of some sort. This makes my tummy feel happy after it felt soooo sad.
TTFN,
Lauren
posted by Lauren at 3:37 AM
2 Comments:
Dear Lauren;
How best to express sympathy for your plight? Decision making can be so difficult and weigh so heavily on a person, particularly when there are no family or friends near at hand to be of assistance. "Shall I go to Singapore or Bangkok or should I go diving on the west coast and the islands?".......we find ourselves in similar situations quite frequently........"shall I go to Cub or to Rainbow, or should I splurge a bit and go to Byerly's?" No little sarcasm here. Can ya feel the luv???
Nonetheless, we're glad that you're feeling better and have the strength to face these perilous decisions so bravely. But then, you are considering a trip to the top of the Petronas Towers aren't you? What would a trip to KL be without at least a photo from the top? You don't have to eat there, now that the Golden Arches are so near at hand.
I don't know if it's true for your other readers but your travels have forced me to review my knowledge of geography of SE Asia. I had a vague idea of where some of your destinations were located but I confess that I was looking for KL in Thailand before I finally found it in the western section of Malaysia. When did they move it?? You've really covered quite some distance on this trip already. Are you keeping any kind of distance log?
Regarding your Grandpa's story, I had several visits to Japan perhaps ten years after he was there, courtesy of the US Navy, and though public toileting had pretty much disappeared, the honey buckets were still highly visible and employed in the same manner. I was wondering if he recalled the sizes of the various types of garden produce thus fertilized? They were all like vegetables on steroids!! Huge-ositiness!!!!
We continue to enjoy your reports and anxiously await the next, with it's result of your most recent decision making process!
George
3:41 PM
Dear George, I have to thank you again for taking the time to respond to Lauren and for all of your entertaining banter. I know it means a lot to her and the bonus is that we are all enjoying your comments,and your writing skills. You are great fun!! Nancy
7:40 AM
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