Hello friends and family!
Happy New Year, first off. And Gong Xi Fa Cai, as well.
It's cold here. Very. Very.
Cold. In fact, as I'm writing to you, I am bundled in 2 pairs of thermals, fleece pants, 2 shirts, and a scarf. And most ridiculous of all, I have a sunburn.
As some of you may know, I just spent nearly two weeks in the amazingly beautiful country of Malaysia where it is hot. Very. Very.
Hot.
You see that? We were 5 degrees North of the equator. Over a 100 degree temperature difference. It was amazing. Now, I shall tell you of our journey via pictures...
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| Taxi ride to the airport! We showed up in Malaysia like that... |
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| Best of All! Popcorn is you new friend. |
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| Fly Korean Air. Seriously. Most amazing plane I've ever been on. |
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| Layover in Seoul with some new friends |
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| Look! I'm not throwing a rock at him! |
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| Burger King. We had to. And dear god, did we regret it. |
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| This is what death by Burger King looks like. |
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| Aaand we made it! We got in real late Sunday night and the following morning Patti Tan (the greatest host EVER) introduced us to Malaysian food and culture. Our first taste of a not mutton meal was AMAZING. |
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| Mall, near Kuala Lumpur. Take THAT, Woodfield. |
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| Patti's son Trent! (First boy on the right) |
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| Pineapple juice... mmmm. |
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| I should rename this post to "The Malaysia Gastronomy" because an absurd amount of these pictures are of food. Here we have an Indian Malay combo... Tandoori Chicken, Roti Banana, and some other things I don't know but were delicious. |
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| Chez Tan |
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| The next day, we flew to Kota Kinabalu on the island of Borneo where my old college roommate is currently volunteering. |
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| Rambutan |
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| Coconut water. According to Patti Tan, it cures everything. |
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| Me and Molly! Gusties Unite! |
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| Ummm... it happens. |
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| Night Market! It was Chinese New Year, so the night scene was hoppin. |
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| Sunday Market (Markets are so wonderful). This man is selling birds. Ducks. Chickens. Etc... |
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| Puppies! As I was cooing the pups, the sales lady shoved a little lab in my arms. That was almost a sale. |
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| I KNOW, right? |
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| I told Molly to order me food. She came back with THIS. I'm drooling all over the keyboard right now. |
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| A cocktail! And it's not vodka! |
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| One morning, I asked for coffee to go. So they put it in a bag with a straw. |
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| Malaysian countryside. On our way to Sandakan, Patti Tan's hometown and the hometown of orangutans! The bus ride is normally 5 hours, but we got Chingiss-ed... both times took us 8 hours. |
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Isn't my sister a looker?
Oh, the orangutans. So, in Sepilok there is an orangutan rehabilitation center. Basically these orangutans are wild, but they are given supplementary feedings twice a day in this one area. If an orangutan is hungry, he or she can help himself. |
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| The first orangutans to arrive were mommies. They don't travel far from the food since they have little ones. You can see the babies clinging to them. |
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| Once the mom's had had their fill, the macaques moved in to clean up. |
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| And then came King Louie! He was the only male we saw, but he was BIG. |
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| Mmm rainforest-y. |
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| My crew: Bonnie, the responsible. Jessica: the goon. Molly: The cuckoo-manchu. |
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| Next, we visited a temple. Meet Buddha. |
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| Gong Xi Fa Cai! |
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| And the quaint swastika garden out back. |
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| Annnd back to food. This was like a fondue-ish restaurant. We picked our uncooked food and then grilled it or steamed it at the table. Here Cecilia is making a pork and [unknown, but delicious spicy sauce] saute. |
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| The carnage. |
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| Also, it was Molly's Birthday! |
Za, Za. So we continue our trip back to Kota Kinabalu and head for the Islands. We snorkeled for a bit, burned our backs and bottoms, and made shore for Pulua Sulug (only 7 km from the island they filmed the first season of Survivor!)
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| BBQ on the island. Here we have Jess, slathering some fish. |
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| Fish and squid... oh man I'm remembering how (have I used the adjectives delicious or amazing yet?) ... STUPENDOUS this meal was. |
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| You know that sound Homer makes around donuts? |
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| And as we were eating our squid and fish, our cook threw THESE in front of us. |
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| Watch out! They'll bite back! |
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| And then we had corn on the cob! |
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| Next up, Wetlands and Bird Santcuary |
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| Rainin |
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| And our stint in Kota Kinabalu came to an end. We flew back to Patti Tan's and made our way to Kuala Lumpur. Here, Bon and Jess are being tourists while the general population continues to ignore us. |
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| THESE FISH ARE TRAINED TO EAT THE NASTY OFF YOUR FEET. |
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| Eating Roti, our favorite light meal. |
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| The awesome KLCC twin towers. |
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| Patti Tan made us a checklist of things to do in Kuala Lumpur. One was "Do Your Thing." And here we are. |
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| Me and Patti! She was so kind and wonderful. And also the sassiest lady ever. Love Her. |
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| Free Planterium... why not? |
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| And suddenly it was over. Back to ... this. ::sigh:: |
You can book your flight to Malaysia
here.
