KL Sentral

Today is our last day in Malaysia and I'm awake before everyone else so I thought I'd catch yall up.

We got here on Wednesday which is when I last wrote. Pretty much that day we went to the train station to figure out our now non-existant Singapore trip and then we fooled around the night market which is RIGHT outside our window.



Then Thursday was full on Malaysia day. We spent the morning in the national museum and then headed over to the famous Patronus towers and then walked to see the KL tower, which is actually just a communications tower so that wasn't so exciting. There is a giant mall in one of the Patronus towers though so we had fun drooling at everything from Jimmy Choos to Marc Jacobs.





Then yesterday, Friday, we went to the Batu Caves. The different kinds of people here are so varying it almost catches you off guard. There are people that have extremely dark skin and people that look "Asian" and most that look almost Indian. There are also a ton of Muslims but a lot of Hindus too. I even saw a Methodist church yesterday. Anyway, the caves are Hindu and have a ginormous statue in front of the million stairs you have to climb to the opening. There were monkeys and pigeons everywhere.






And then back home to our hoppin street.



Today's the last day in Malaysia before Thailand tomorrow!

When nothing goes to plan...

Why oh why do I attempt to plan things?

Number one lesson learned today: a plane ticket bought for May 2 gets you NOWHERE on June 2.

That's right. In my retardacity I bought both Elizabeth and my tickets from Siem Reap to Kuala Lumpur for May 2. Which not only means that we had to buy tickets for today's flight but that we had accidentally missed our May 2 flight that we didn't mean to book in the first place. Finals mess up everything.

Luckily Air Asia is SUPER cheap so nothing $150 couldn't fix.

So then my bag was 19 kg instead of 15 so I got charged a neat chunk of change for that along with the exit tax so I was out of money. Literally. None. No riel or dollars or anything. And then my ATM card got denied at SEVEN ATMs.

But we got here and decided to make sure we get overnight tickets to and from Singapore for the next two nights. So we get on the train to go to the central train station and waited for our ticket to be called to talk to a ticket person. Who told us that all seats for both those trains were sold out. So no Singapore for us.

But no worries! We are here in Kuala Lumpur in our awesome hotel which we now booked for four nights, overlooking the hoppin' night market. And I found an ATM and got 550 whatever Malaysian money is. So I feel like Ms. Money Bags. Elizabeth lost her debit card and is living off $175 and Frances, who is traveling with us through Malaysia, got her card eaten by an ATM so she's living on $100. This is seriously budget traveling for the next 10 days.

Anyways, Cambodia and I had a rough ending there, but I really think me and Malaysia are going to get along quite well. I feel good in Kuala Lumpur and the night market is really something. It's literally RIGHT outside our window and the street is completely inaccessible to anything wider than my father because there are so many street stalls. You can walk everywhere and there is no telling who is Malaysian or not because of the range of skin colors. Malaysia is a Muslim country and we all know I love Muslims so it's nice to see hijabs (head coverings) again after Morocco.

We have wifi at the hotel so I'll be able to post later, too, just maybe not in Thailand. But looks like we're staking out in Malaysia for a few days and making this awesome little room our home for 4 days.

Update?

Tomorrow morning Elizabeth and I are off on our adventure. Not sure when I'll get to update on the road but here's the plan:

Wednesday 2- leave at 8:35 in the morning to fly to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Spend the night there.
Thursday 3- spend the day in Kuala Lumpur and take the overnight train to Singapore
Friday 4- spend the day in Singapore and take the overnight train back to Kuala Lumpur
Saturday 5- spend the day and night in Kuala Lumpur
Sunday 6- fly to Chiang Mai, Thailand and spend the night there with our Gap Adventures tour
Monday 7-Wednesday 9- trek around the northern hilltribes of Thailand with the Gap Adventures tour, staying in huts, riding elephants, rafting on bamboo floats, etc.
Thursday 10- Spend the day in Chiang Mai and take the overnight train to Bangkok, Thailand
Friday 11- spend the day in Bangkok and fly out at midnight
Saturday 12- fly from Bangkok->Nagoya, Nagoya->Detroit, Detroit->ATLANTA!

Hopefully I'll get to update in between times but if not, you all know where I am and what I'm up to! Bid me farewell!