Something Different

We flew out of Bangkok on Christmas day, after making it to the airport merely 40 minutes before our scheduled departure, only to find that our flight had been delayed by a half hour. What we thought at the time was, “Thank Buddha.” In retrospect, this was only the beginning of what proved to be an unpredictable holiday adventure.
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur without much more fuss, and waited patiently at the baggage claim until we were the only two people left in the terminal. Mac’s backpack apparently had other plans for the holiday because it had yet to show up. Summoning a truly Thai response of jai yen (“cool heart”), Mac approached the AirAsia counter and said, “So, I don’t have my bag.” The man, while slightly taken aback by our calm demeanor and the lack of obscenities spewing forth, eagerly located the missing luggage- still in Bangkok. Oh, right. Easily the smallest checked luggage on the flight, and you had to leave it behind? Sure, we’ll wait here until the next flight from Bangkok. 11:30pm, you say? No problem, where can we exchange some money? We found the currency exchange counter, and joked to ourselves about the large sign posted in it's window, reading "Will not accept USD $100 bills." We are living on the baht now, so our transactions went smoothly. We had stepped aside to check our exchanges when a heavily-accented man approached the counter, waving a hundred dollar bill. The man behind the glass politely told him they could not exchange it, to which the customer replied, "But this dollar!!" Apparently he, like many others, was unaware of the currently plummeting American economic situation. His response was the equivilant of going to Canada and proclaiming, "But this Thai baht!" or "But these shells so pretty!" or "But I skin this yak myself!" You get our drift...

Upon re-entry to claim Mac's backpack, we were subjected to the vigorous security checkpoint at the customs office. While walking into an area clearly designated as “No Entry,” we were stopped by a man in uniform asking, “Do you have passport?” We responded in the affirmative but before we could produce evidence to support this claim, he said “Okay” and waved us through. Brutal.
The Red Palm Hostel deserves mention here, as the staff is wonderful and hospitable enough to check us in at nearly 2:00 am. That morning, after quietly climbing into the bunk beds of the six person dorm-style accommodations for some sleep, we met a friend named Katie and decided to hit the town. Katie is an English teacher also, recently graduated from Oregon State University, and works in Japan. We had a lot of stories to share about the variety of teaching experiences in different countries and we knew that we liked Katie right away. For those of you who know us well, this says a lot. We had decided to tackle KL in the simplest way we could- a giant circle. We saw a lot of traffic, people and buildings that had no real cultural or social significance, so we stopped for lunch. It was at the Thai Cowboy Café where we met Malek and Abe, a pair of travelers from Lebanon and Sudan respectively. Malek often visited Malaysia for business and pleasure, as we came to find out, and Abe was hoping to study English in the city sometime soon. They asked if we had ever been to the pyramid just outside the city, and offered to act as our guides on this once in a lifetime expedition. A real pyramid? In Kuala Lumpur? Why haven’t we seen anything about this in any guidebooks, or heard about it from someone at the hostel? The entire time we were thinking, “Eighth Wonder of the World” until Malek told us we were almost there and we found ourselves still in the traffic-ridden city limits. We began to have our doubts. The “pyramid” houses a five-story shopping complex, complete with an ice rink at ground level and the three of us couldn’t believe we had just traveled nearly an hour to see a mall. “Is beautiful, no?” Malek and Abe beamed with pride, as though they had built the very foundation on which we were standing. “Oh yes!” we feigned our amazement for their benefit, and quickly began devising a plan of escape. After losing our tour guides and returning to the city center, we found ourselves right back where we started- only now the area had been transformed for the nightlife, with food vendors and sidewalk hookah cafes. What better way to experience the diversity that Malaysia has to offer than an apple/grape hookah and the Foul Medamas. The latter was a specialty dish, enthusiastically recommended by the restaurant’s proprietor who kept screaming the dish’s name until we ordered it.
Our second day in KL began with a more defined game plan as we tackled the Batu Caves, a Hindu temple situated cliff-side of tremendous limestone caves just outside the city limits. An honest cab driver gave us some background on the temple and relevant structures, including the 276 steps we would have to climb to reach the top. Nobody said anything about the monkeys. Sure, they seem harmless on The Discovery Channel, but let us assure you that they are heartless, thieving creatures. Case in point: one of the hairy mongrels stole an offering of jasmine flowers straight from a Hindu tourist’s hands, perched himself not two feet away, and proceeded to devour said donation. When not robbing the devout of their gifts to the Hindu gods, the monkeys spend their time chasing tourists and over-turning trash bins—you know, normal monkey stuff. I’m sure our racing hearts were due less to the climb and more to the numerous near-death experiences with rabid primates.
We continued our day by browsing the hot market locales and walked away with some sweet deals on knock-off merchandise. In celebration of our last evening in KL, the three of us had dinner at Bollywood, a completely decked-out Indian restaurant/hotel, complete with miniature KISS shrine. We went to bed satisfied with a short, but adventure-packed visit to Malaysia’s capital city. Next stop—Singapore—to ring in the New Year.