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Other entries in Kuala Lumpur

Don't let the bedbugs bite

Sorry it's been a while since the last update - the internet service here has been surprisingly terrible. We were grumpy and didn't feel like dealing with it. So picking up where we left off in Taman Negara, after seeing the caves, we went "Rapid Shooting" the next day. This skeptical adventure turned out to be great fun, largely due to our obnoxious guides. They stuck five of us into a river boat, and proceeded to head directly into a series of rapids. They weren't overly large, but they made up for this by getting us as wet as humanly possible. It was already raining when we left, but apparently that wasn't near good enough, and so the guy at the front of the boat picked up his oar, making like he was going to steer the boat. Instead, he dragged it along the water, sending a steady stream of water directly into my face. You may think that he would tire of this quickly, but he was very persistent and this continued for a good ten minutes. And there was really nothing i could do other than sit there and take it. They guy in the back was dumping buckets of water on the other passengers heads. So you can imagine what a sight we were: me and JP sitting there with big cascades of water being directed at our faces, and in behind the boatman was continuously filling up his buckets with water and emptying them onto the others' heads. We had to stop every few minutes to bail the boat out, as it was near sinking due to the amount of water we were being immersed in. Good natured tourists eh? So there wasn't much excitement after that, we took it pretty easy and then woke up the next morning and took the riverbus back and then another few buses until we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We had 4 days to kill here, so we tried to be as busy as possible so they'd pass quickly. We went to the largest bird park in the world, which was pretty cool, and saw lots of ostriches and emus and flamingos and hornbills and a gazillion other birds i'd never heard of before. They all had one thing in common: they were very big and very colourful! So that was fun, even though we were walking around in about 35 degree heat. After that we went to Masjid Negara, which is the biggest mosque in southeast asia. That was a bit disappointing, since it was really modern and felt more like an office building than a religious one. I got to dress like a muslim though, and wore the head-thingand the full dress and whatnot, so i felt like i was certainly put in my place. Upon entering, I received a stern look of disapproval and was hastily directed towards a rack of scarves. The next day, we went to the Batu Caves, which were pretty impressive. You have to climb 300 steps up into this big cave with a HUGE hindu sculpture in front. Look it up on the internet, I'm not going to bother trying to put pictures up until I get home. Sorry! Once we got into the caves, there were dozens of families of monkeys hanging out. And by hanging out, I mean having a full blown war. It was insane, even the babies were taking on the big papas. Then one monkey went a bit nuts and started attacking some children, so we decided to run away before we got bit. My calves are definately sore after those stairs. But I'm in pretty bad shape so it's to be expected. On Friday, there will be 1 million hindu people walking up the stairs in a religious trance at the Thaipussam festival. People put hooks into their backs and pull stuff on them, it looks pretty crazy. We will not be here for that though; we'll be in Phnom Penh, Cambodia! Yay! Right now, we're inside a giant mall inside the Petronas Towers. This mall is ridiculous. Anyone who loves shopping would just be absolutely blown away. Looking out the window from this internet shop, I see a Cartier Store, Tiffany's, Versace, Guess Kids, BCBG, Armani Exchange. It's funny though, nobody seems to be actually buying anything in the stores. It's neat though, I believe it's 6 or 7 floors. A little bit smaller than the MBK mall in Bangkok. Tonight we went out for dinner at Chili's (baby back ribs) it was delicious, though I didn't see any ribs, probably because of the whole pork thing, halal food and what have you. After that we watched Syriana, which is very good. There weren't many new western movies out here, but it was pretty awesome. Earlier in the day I went to the doctor because I woke up yesterday morning absolutely COVERED in bites or a rash or something. So I decided to get it checked out, and was informed that they were bites from a mite or bedbug. I didn't even think it could be bites because there are so many. So yup, I have too many to count but I must have at least 300 bites. And Sihanoukville in Cambodia has sandflys...so if these bites don't get better I might bail out after Angkor and come home to get fixed! Seriously, I look ridiculous. I can't even wear skirts or shorts because it's so gross, so I'm just really hot and sweaty all the time. Just in case you all were wondering! :) We're both verrry excited to see Angkor Wat, and will probably only be spending a night or so in Phnom Penh to see the Tuol Slong museum (Prison S-21) and possibly the killing fields of Choeng Ek. It will be a pretty upsetting day though. Then we take a bus to Siem Reap to spend 3 days exploring the ruins of Angkor Wat! So hopefully there will be some sort of decent internet in Phnom Penh and we can update you; if not, you'll probably hear from us in Siem Reap. So Goodnight, and don't let the bedbugs bite. I guess I should have thought of that one a little sooner. Oh well.

-Steph