Malaysia in a flash

After our Sapa trek, we returned to Hanoi to discover that our next destination, Halong Bay, was currently experiencing a typhoon, and thus wouldn't be much fun. Rather than spend the next 5 days twiddling our thumbs in Hanoi, we decided to modify our flight to Bali, so rather than having 2 hours in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, the capital, to be exact), we'd have 2 1/2 days. Besides giving us a new city to explore, this let me makeanother entry to my "countries I've visited" list, although it hardly seems fair - Malaysia is big enough to spend a month wandering it, and we didn't even have the time to leave the capital! Oh well, it still counts.

Sanne and Mie left a day earlier than I did, because I was stuck in Hanoi waiting for my China visa to come through. I spent the day shopping for all the stuff that Vietnam sells for 1/10th of the US price (sunglasses, running shoes, DVDs), and the next day staggered to the airport with a very full bag. I flew into Kuala Lumpur where Sanne and Mie were there to meet me, complete with Malaysian flags and a bouquet of (fake) birthday roses, (oh yeah, I forgot to mention, it was my birthday). The roses proceeded to come with me from guesthouse to guesthouse for the next week - really spiced the places up. It was raining in Hanoi when I left, and apparently I had managed to bring the bad weather with me to Malaysia, as it started raining an hour after I arrived. Still, we didn't let that stop us, and had a fun evening out, followed by a mini-birthday celebration in the guesthouse, complete with a delicious birthday cake!

The next day we continued the birthday celebration. And what better way to celebrate being a mere year away from the big 3-0 than to go to a giant indoor amusement park? I certainly couldn't think of anything. So, we passed the day on roller coasters, whirling upside down on various rides, and even had a DDR dance off. Good times.

The next day we explored Kuala Lumpur. Well, at least the girls did. I'd been battling a nasty head cold (sinus headache etc), and when I fell asleep at Starbucks while the girls were gone 2 minutes to buy coffee, they made me go home and rest. Still, I managed to rally in the evening and got to enjoy Kuala Lumpur at night. And then the following day, it was time to head on to Bali, but I'll save that post for another day.

Pictures below, enjoy!

me with one half of the welcoming/birthday committee

happy birthday to me!

at the site of my post-birthday party - Malaysia's largest indoor theme park (dunno how much of a distinction that is, but it was fun)

whoooo! rollercoaster!!

it was at this point that the girls decided I was too sick to be doing the tourist thing, and made me go home for the day and rest

look, a camel!

the Petronas towers, one of Kuala Lumpur's most famous landmarks

the Petronas towers at night

the Kuala Lumpur radio tower, another of Kuala Lumpur's most famous landmarks. We went up to the top to watch the sunset over the city, which was quite cool.

apparently they don't have quite the same attitude about litter (you know, that it's bad) as we do in the US. . .