Tanah Negara

Hey everybody! Last time I posted it was just photos, so I think I have a lot to catch up on! Well, we spent 2 days in Kuala Lumpur, the center of Malaysia. We went up in their sky tower (similar to the space needle) to get a perspective of the city and gain some general knowledge. Then we went exploring the streets (thats the adventurous way to say wandering aimlessly...) We found lots of unique statues and fountains. The KLCC is their big center and is set between the Patronus towers. They look like the twin towers and are very revered here. McDonalds $1 cones saved us in the hot HOT HOT weather- we were melting! Our first hotel in Chinatown was bad, but the next two nights we stayed closer to the business district in a place called the Golden Triangle. That was much better. The included breakfast consisted of 3 pieces of bread...

It took a 3 hour coach and then a 2 hour local bus to reach Tanah Negara- the jungles of Malaysia. The first day I was VERY scared of meeting a tiger, leopard or other big, wild animal. But by the second day, the jungle trekking was so physically taxing that all I cared about was getting to the destination- no time to be afraid of animals. Tanah Negara has these floating barges for restaurants, they were really fun- the ginger chicken was my favorite. The first night we ate with our new german friends Chris and karina. They've been traveling for 7 weeks already and have 2 weeks to go. We spent a lot of time with them, chatting, hiking and going to dinner throughout our time in the jungle. We also met a couple living in New Zealand who is on an 11 month tour. He's from NZ and she's originally from Seattle :) It was so fun to chat with them, and they helped us find a good hostel.

My 2 favorite jungle attractions were the canopy tour ($1.50 US) and the bat caves!!! Well, I actually only like the bat caves in retrospect. There were millions of bats just handing and fidgeting and waiting to nip my face. Nobody gotten bitten by a rabit bat this time, but they definitely brushed up against our bodies. The canopy tour was SO LONG! I was very impressed. We got some great photos, one of which is my favorite pic from the trip so far! It is a hoot!

We rode a 2 hour longboat down the river this morning to get back to the Jerantut train station. It was a nice long ride, and counted as transportation and recreation! We past many wildebeast and just beautiful scenery all along the way. My bum hurt after sitting inside the wood panels for hours though. The 10pm bus to Thailand was full tonight, which is the reason we can do internet though :) We will take the coach to Hatyai, Thailand and arrive about 7:30 in the morning. Then, off to the beaches for what I hope will be honeymoon part two.

I bet you're wondering how the romance is going? Well, we are sweaty ALL the time. Our beds are usually about 1 inch thick, until we lay on them and it becomes 1/2 inch :) We usually get to share a bed, but when it's significantly cheaper, we each end up in a single bed. We stink and my hair is almost always, nope, ALWAYS a mess. So it's a lucky thing we love each other so much, because let's just say we aren't in our best/most romantic state...

We ate dinner tonight at a melting pot sort of place. We buy skewers of meat (squid, pig intestine, vegetable balls... chicken!) and then cook them in the pot of, whatever stuff that is, on our table! It was fun to eat a different style! But we always eat either rice or noodles with some sort of meat. The meat is always in bitesize pieces- no American portions here!

Well, now I need to go check out more hostel/hotels for Thailand! I'm hoping to try some fruit drinks there and maybe even ride an elephant!!! Love you and miss you!
Stefanie