Finishing up with Kuala Lumpur and Off to Thailand!

Nov 14th

I can’t believe how quick our time in KL was, less than 33 hours in total and it flew by! I liked KL and I’m glad that we made a quick stop here, but I am glad that it was quick and that next week we will be away from a major city. We got dressed, packed our bags, checked out of the hostel, and headed to the Batu Caves, which are about 8 miles north of Kuala Lumpur. We were told the bus ride there was only 45 minutes. But there was so much traffic that it ended up taking almost 1.5 hours to get there, I think we could have walked faster! We climbed the 272 steps up the limestone hill and went into the caves. They are about 100 meters above the ground and 400 million years old! Inside there are many temples and temple caves. On our hike we met an interesting guy named Dylan from California. He was on a layover en route to Australia. We ended up spending a couple hours with him. It was interesting to hear his travel stories, I’ll be interested to be in touch with him on facebook and see how his trip to Australia went!

 

 

 

For the rest of the afternoon we walked around Petaling Street in Chinatown, which is full of shops and hawker stalls trying to sell you fake bags, DVD’s and clothes, I felt like I was in China again! There are so many fresh fruit stands here with exotic fruits, we tried a fruit called rambutan which kind of tasted like aloe, but was really good!  We had to head to the airport at around 3:30pm to catch our flight to Thailand. We had read that dried fruit is really popular in Malaysia but we barely saw any until we got to the airport.  We found a store full of every dried fruit you can imagine, I was excited! We were allowed to sample and taste as many as we wanted, so we went crazy and tried everything- even dried rose petals which were delicious!

The flight to Phuket, Thailand was quick- only one hour and twenty minutes. We had booked the hostel that we’re staying at online and didn’t have a printer to print the hostel details. Jess has internet on her phone so in the past we’ve had no problems getting the address of places on her phone and giving it to the taxi driver. However we had horrible luck when we got off the plane and realized that her internet for some reason doesn’t work here in Thailand. We went to the tourist information desk and they had never heard of the hostel and didn’t have a list of the lodging options for Patong Beach. We asked if they could look it up on the computer, they said no. We asked if they had a phone book, they didn’t. We were annoyed and running out of options when this tall blonde lady approached us. She said that she was also going to Patong beach and wanted to know if we were interested in sharing a taxi. We were a little sketched out, but didn’t know what else to do but to head in the right direction. The taxi ride was about an hour, during which time we desperately tried calling home to have someone Google the address of the hostel for us. The Australian even let us use the internet on her phone which was nice. We finally found the address, but the taxi driver didn’t know where it was- just our luck. The Australian was a mystery to Jess and I. She was very nice, but a little off in our opinion. She had no luggage with her, the first thing that we both noticed. She said that she was here in Thailand to go to the dentist and would be staying 2 weeks to get imprints and molds made. Lastly, she said last time she was in Thailand she came to go to the doctors. All very weird to us. As some of you may know, “The Beach” starring Leonardo Dicaprio is one of my favorite movies, and ironically enough it takes place in Thailand. The Australian women reminded me exactly of one of the leader of the hidden tropical island, Val, who only goes to mainland Thailand to go to the doctor and dentist. So weird! Regardless the woman was super nice and even insisted that the taxi driver wait while she went inside to have the concierge find the address of our hostel. It took about 15 minutes and the taxi driver got really annoyed. Since Patong beach is set up with one-way roads and we’d already passed our hostel, he refused to go back, but dropped up off about a half a mile away from the hostel. We still weren’t exactly sure where we were going but we started walking. We actually ended up walking down the major road that has tons of nightlife and great bars. We scoped it out and decided that Thailand was great instantly, and that we had to take part in the nightlife! After walking in circles and asking dozens of people for directions who had no idea where our hostel was, we finally found it and checked in.

Our room is great. We share a king sized bed and the room even has a mini fridge and a safe. We have our own private balcony and share a bathroom with another room, but so far haven’t met the people in the other room. I showered quickly and we threw on dresses and were off to experience the night life first hand.  We had a blast! Our first stop at a beach party on Patong Beach. There was a DJ, lots of dancing and people on the beach were lighting sky lanterns which are kind of like luminary kites that fly up into the sky. Again, they had the same sky lanterns in the movie “The Beach” when Leonardo was being welcome to the hidden island in Thailand- I was so excited to see them. They were beautiful! We decided that it was then time to hit a club where we did a shot and got drinks then danced the night away.

 

We could defiantly see the “sex-tourism’ which we were warned about. We have no encounters with prostitutes and actually have felt really safe here. Phuket is know as the “sex-tourism” capital of the world, and we’ve definitely seen it, but we were able to find parties and bars that are for tourists only and don’t allow Thai’s in (because so many of them are actually prostitutes). We found this all very interesting, but had a blast regardless. We were getting tired by 1am and decided that we should head back to the hostel and get some sleep.

Bye for now!
Love,
Katie.

I Love KL!

Nov 12th

The alarm went off just after 4 this morning, it was rough since we only had gotten about 3 hours of sleep. We threw our things in our bags and were putting on our backpacks when there was a knock at the door. Icha and Meza had come to say goodbye and make sure that we got off to the airport safely. They really are the best! We were so lucky to have had them for this leg of the trip- they really made it great for us! We checked out of the hotel and said our goodbyes and were off. I was so sad to be leaving Bali!

The whole airport process was so annoying for several reasons. I had a horrible sunburn so it was uncomfortable to wear/carry my backpack, it was so early, and it was 100 degrees and my body was covered from head to toe in aloe which was sticky and slimy. That being said  I was very glad to be on the plane where I fell asleep for most of our 3 hour flight to Kuala Lumpur.

When we got to Kuala Lumpur it was about 9:30am by the time we cleared customs. We decided that since we were both sun burnt and were unsure about the public transportation that we should splurge on a taxi. It was an hour and twenty minute ride from the airport and I was glad we were in the air conditioned car where I could continue to nap. We got to the hostel around 11am, an hour before check in. The lady at the front desk let us put our bags down and hang out in the common area. Jess and I prepaid our luggage fee which will save us some money on our flight to Thailand and I was able to call home and talk to both of my parents since it was Veterans Day. At noon we checked into our room, which is very small but we don’t share it with anyone which is wonderful!

We decided to get some site seeing in so we headed to Petronas Twin Towers, the 451.9 meter tall buildings, the world‘s tallest freestanding twin towers.(Used to be the world’s tallest towers until 2004 when one was built in Taipei.) In the basement of the towers there is a huge mall. I loved that all over the mall and city they sold bags and t-shirts that said “I heart KL”- I thought it was cool that it was my initials, I was tempted to buy one, but decided that my backpack was already heavy enough and if I don’t watch what I buy I’m going to start having to pay extra for the airport baggage fee.  We stopped and grabbed some lunch then were off to see the city! Our first stop was of course the towers themselves. There is a sky bridge on the 41st floor that is free to the public to check out (with a ticket), the bridge connects the two towers. When we got to the ticket counter we were told that the tickets for the day were sold out! We were so bummed. We were informed that the tickets usually sell out by 9 or 10 am and we’d have to come back tomorrow morning at 8am to try again. We were disappointed but we went outside and took some pictures of the towers instead. The architecture of the buildings is festinating, its made of all stainless steel and glass and shines.

 

From there We walked to the KL Tower, We studied the architecture but decided that it wasn’t worth the $10 to go to the top. At this point of the trip we’ve gotten more aerial views of major cities than we can count. We decided the $10 would be better spent elsewhere and were off to do some more exploring. We went to Merdeka Square (Independence Square) which is a big field used for cricket games and ceremonies. The Sultan Abdul Samad building is across the street from the park. It was built for the Sultan at the time and I felt like I was in Saudi Arabia just by looking at it! The Jamek Mosque is right near the square too, we saw it but didn’t go inside. Many of the Mosques don’t allow non-Muslims to enter, and most that do have designated times that tourists can visit. At this point it started to downpour and since we didn’t have rain coats or umbrellas with us, we decided to head back to the hostel.

Kuala Lumpur is not as big of a city as I thought,  we could easy to walk everywhere we needed to go. On the way back to the hostel we stopped at Central Market. This is a building that sells many Malaysia crafts, clothing, and gifts as well as the usual knock-off designer bags etc. We walked around for a bit and we were very excited when we found a fish spa! We had heard about fish spas on Oprah and had seen them all over Asia but they were quite expensive. At the Central Market we could soak our feet for 10 minutes and it only cost us 5 ringgit ($1.50). The fish are called ‘doctor fish’, and they eat the dead skin off of peoples feet. They are toothless so it didn’t hurt- but some of the fish really tickled!

 

At the hostel we showered and changed and got ready for our first night out in a non-Muslim country. We were surprised that in Indonesia we struggled to find places that sold alcohol since most Muslims don’t drink the restaurants only seemed to have “mock-tails.” We ventured out in the rain to find a place for dinner and drinks. Kuala Lumpur isn’t a very lively city, but we found a good place to eat dinner and hang out for a while. We were both tired and decided to head back towards the hostel. Our hostel is connected with a reggae bar, so we thought that it might be a bit more lively with people our age. We also had a voucher for discounted drinks so we each got one and hoped to find some interesting people to talk with but only found creepy old men. We called it an early night because we were both exhausted from getting up at 4am that morning.

Bye for now!
Love,
Katie

One Little, Two Little, Three Little Monkeys….

Nov 11th

Since today was our last morning in Bali L we decided to relax a bit and have a slow start to the morning. We slept until 9:30am then headed downstairs for the included continental breakfast where we met up with Icha and Meza. After breakfast we headed to Kuta beach for a few hours to enjoy the sun. It was so hot I decided to rent a boogie board and spend most of the time in the water! The waves were pretty big and I managed to loose my sunglasses unfortunately- too bad because I was getting so many compliments about how they matched my outfit. Hahaha- o-well! We stayed on the beach for a couple hours (just enough time for me to turn into a lobster- I didn’t realize how much stronger the sun is being right below the equator) then decided to check out the markets on the walk back to our hotel. I ended up buying a new pair of sunglasses and a gold Gucci watch. Just my luck- the battery doesn’t actually work, I realized just as soon as I got back to the hotel room. I guess I’ll wait till I get home to replace the battery and wear it. I must say though that I have perfected my bargaining skills on this trip. I have managed to talk the venders waaaay down on most of the prices.

After showering and changing we headed to Ubud, where Julia Roberts is filming the movie “Eat, Pray, Love.” Unfortunately there were no Julia spottings. We stopped at a gold and silver store and a Hindu Temple on the way. I found it interesting to learn a little about their culture as well. For example there are 5 times throughout the day when everyone stop to pray. Since our driver was working and couldn’t stop to pray someone at home would pray for themselves then do the same prayers over again for him as well. I found this very interesting.

After the temple we went to the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary in Ubud. There were hundreds of monkeys, it was so cool! We bought a bunch of banana’s and fed the monkeys. They came right up to us and took them out of our hands. Meza was holding a bunch of banana’s and a big monkey came up to her and she got scared and threw the bananas at Icha who was even more frightened and threw all the bananas at the monkey! It was hilarious! Jess bravely tried to get the bananas back (they were just sitting on the ground 2 feet away from us) but the Monkey growled at her. We decided that the $1 we spent for 10 bananas wasn’t worth getting rabies over. The whole situation was pretty funny. We walked a bit further and bought baby grapefruits to feed to the monkeys. Jess was holding the bag and all of a sudden was swarmed by tons of monkeys! They didn’t hurt her, just jumped on her arms and pulled her dress. Jess quickly handed the bag over to the guide and the monkeys left Jess alone. It was quite a site to see, I was very glad that I choose not to hold the bag.

 

 

 

 

Our last stop of the day was at a rice paddy terraces in Ubud. It was interesting to see their agriculture and the way that they have either field set up on a hill so they don’t have to advance to modern technology with a high tech watering system.

 

We spent the rest of the night shopping in Kuta, we got some great DVD’s for less than $1 each! We had dinner at a convayer sushi belt restaurant (yes sushi 2 nights in a row seems to be a trend for us). Jess got to try jelly fish- which she has been looking for the whole trip!

We spent the rest of the evening packing for Kuala Lumpur. Our flight leaves at 6am so we have another early day. I haven’t had internet access now for almost a week, so I will look forward to uploading my blogs and pictures hopefully tomorrow at some point! I really don’t want to leave Bali!- I wish we had a few more days here! The beaches are so nice and clean and the people here are so nice! I love be in the tropical weather and will definitely be back here one day ( I hopefully soon!)

Bye for now,

Love,
Katie.

Swine Flu,? Malaria?, or Perhaps just a BAD Tuna Sandwich?

Nov 10th

The alarm went off at 7:30am this morning (just a short 5 hour slumber), giving us 15 minutes to put on our bathing suits and get ready to meet Meza and Icha for breakfast. I was excited for the day, but as soon as I got up I had a horrible pain in my stomach and wanted to keel over. I laid back down in the bed. The pain continued. I waited a few more minutes and finally told Jess to go to breakfast without me. I felt nauseous, light headed, and like I could pass out. I ran cold water over my face and went to the bathroom which helped a little then laid back down. I knew that we had to meet our driver at 8:30am and I didn’t want to keep everyone waiting so I pulled myself out of bed and down to the lobby. Everyone was very worried about me and I was instantly waited on, Jess got me toast, and Meza got me tea. I drank a glass of orange juice but I still felt horrible and decided not to test whether or not my stomach would keep food down. The plan for the day was to go to see a traditional Balinese dance performance then off to the beach for water sports. I love water sports and have been looking forward to going to the beaches in Bali since the day we booked the flight., so I was really bummed that I wasn’t feeling well.

The three went to the Balinese dance performance without me and I laid down for an hour and a half. The extra rest was what I needed. Although I still wasn’t feeling great I decided that I was feeling well enough to make the 20 minute trip. The beach was unbelievable. We parked at just one section and were greeted  by a man who brought us to a table and gave a book with all of the different water sports that they offered. I decided to go scuba diving for an hour and try a new water sport that I had never heard of called “flying fish.” Why not put my stomach to the test? I figured that I was there and really really wanted to do everything, so I went for it- it was a good way to take my mind off my stomach ach!

The guide decided that we should start with scuba diving. I was happy that they allowed Meza, Icha and Jess to come in the boat with me. They got some great pictures and got to tan while I was underwater.

 

 

 

 

 

The dive was unbelievable. It was the deepest dive that I have been on to date 50 feet (still not too deep). I was a little worried because when I went scuba diving this spring to get my certification I think that it triggered a series of sinus infections (including loss of hearing in my left hear for about a month) and eventually lead to me having sinus surgery. I was prayed nothing would happen and I would feel okay when I returned back to the surface. The drive was great. The instructor kept telling me that the water was freezing, I kept saying how hot it was. We got a reading  of the water temperature for the dive, 81*F- I guess he’s never been scuba diving in Maine in April. The fish were amazing! I took down the two pieces of toast (that I had nibbled on for breakfast but hadn’t hardly touched) in a plastic bag and was swarmed by fish the whole dive. It was so neat to take out little pieces of bread and the fish would just eat it out of your hand. It was an interesting feeling to have them nibble on your hands and fingers- it didn’t hurt just felt funny. At one point I was surrounded by 1000’s of fish and could even see my instructor. The fish were surprisingly smart and knew that I had more food in the plastic bag- I even had several dozen fish follow me on my 45 minute dive. The fish were the best part of the dive, I saw all kinds-  such bright colors and were so pretty too look at. We also saw lots of coral and green starfish that I liked a lot. On the dive we found a baby squid and my scuba guide and I tried to catch it- thought we had no success. It was definitely my favorite dive to date- although I did miss my 3 favorite scuba buddies- Taryn, Scott and Labelle.

 

 

Up next was parasailing and I am actually really glad that I didn’t partake in this activity. Icha and Jess were the ones who decided to give it a try. The take off and landing were both done on land which I had even seen before- I have been parasailing a bunch of times, and was very surprised that they could do it like that. I also thought it was interesting that it was only a 1 person parasail- I’ve always gone with a buddy. The worst thing in my opinion was that the whole parasail was literally 3 minutes for each person. Yes, it was very cheap, but I was shocked how quick it was. Also- to get the parasailed to land on the beach a team of about 10 guys stood below and jumped up and down until they grabbed the ankles of the parasailed in the air- probably not the safest way to do it, haha!

The last extreme activity of the day was flying fish. Flying fish starts off with a boat pulling an inner tube, but in this case the tube actually flies in the air. The tube is kind a mix between a double banana boat and an inflatable kite. I had NEVER seen anything like this before. At times the kite was 30 feet in the air! It was a really cool was to see the water and still have an adrenaline rush because you aren’t strapped in at all. It was a lot of fun!

 

 

 

We were all getting kind of hungry so we took a break from the sun and had lunch at a great restaurant on the side of a cliff over looking the beaches and houses, it was picturesque! We walked around the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park afterwards. The Garuda is the national bird, even though it is a mythical bird. The statue is huge and it’s not even complete yet!

 

 

 

For the rest of the late afternoon and early evening we went to Dreamland beach and relaxed for about two hours. The beach was a long walk down this rocky path. When we got to the beach we bargained for beach chairs and boogie boards. It has been a few years since I have boogie boarded but it came right back to me. Icha and I had a lot of fun catching the waves- I felt like a kid all over again! After about an hour we climbed the stairs back up the hillside and went to this resort area that has an infinity pool and lounge/restaurant area right on the beach. We bought a drink and enjoyed watching the sunset and took lots of great pictures! We got to watch the sunset from the pool deck and it was beautiful! I felt like I was in a travel magazine!

 

 

 

 

 

We came back to the hotel and showered, then walked around Kuta Center, the beach area where our hotel is, and had a really late sushi dinner!

 

 

Our hotel is right near the beach, less than a 5 minute walk, and our balcony over looks the pool. If the pool was a little deeper I’d want to jump right into the pool- but I guess I have done enough extreme sports for one day. The room is pretty big too and it’s nice to have our own space and not be in a hostel for a few days. Our room has a TV with CNN which has been nice to catch up on world news- I have felt so out of the loop. Our hotel is in a very touristy area which has been fun. There are a bunch of markets all around, a Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurant, Planet Hollywood, and lots of huge surf companies. There are a ton of Australian tourists and surfers (with lots of cute surfer boys too!). It’s really funny because sometimes the Indonesians will mistake us for Australians and will say “Good day Mate” in an Indonesia-Australian accent. I die laughing every time.

That’s all for now.

Love,
Katie