KP in KL

Good Morning Kuala Lumpur! For some reason I had the urge to scream that from the hotel balcony this morning, but then I remembered we don't have a balcony and the windows don't open. So I'll settle for screaming that on the internet. The past few days have been very good, although there's nothing extremely exciting to talk about. I have had more cases of "User Errors" which I'm sure I will continue to have until our last day here. But, I continue to laugh at myself with each mishap and laugh even harder when I realize I'm probably the cause of lots of laughing commotion between the locals here who are so "lucky" to be a part of my learning experiences. After all, things could me much worse. I could be forced to order an unknown meat in grams instead of an unknown meat that is at least labeled as turkey! So, thanks to everyone for the words of encouragement, tips, and tricks. They remind me that I'm really not so far away from everyone.

I've been reluctant to take my larger SLR camera around with me, because I never know when I will find myself lost again in Bukit Bintang or Timbuktu and would rather not take the chance of having my camera taken from around my neck by a passing motorcyclist. As a result, the pictures I have today were taken on my iphone and are a little fuzzy.

Yesterday I woke up bound and determined to walk down Jalan Ampang to see what kind of stores might be useful when we actually move into our apartment and mainly to take Paul to see Hock Choon, one of the local grocery stores on the street. Jalan is the word for Street, and Ampang is the street name, aka Embassy Road. Our apartment shares this street with many Embassies such as the British, French, and several others. All of the embassy buildings are highly guarded with very tall fences and look like large mansions with giant chandeliers hanging over the front entryway outside. As we walked we discovered this Embassy was very serious about their security. Paul quickly snapped a photo so not to draw too much attention to himself to prevent questioning from the 3 guards who sat at the front gate. Take a good look at the top of the fence line.




If their fence is covered in glass shards there's no telling what kind of Jack Bower inspired interrogation they might do! We kept walking down Jalan Ampang, passing more embassies, and the heat of the day began wearing on us. While we dreamed about the cold a/c and water we would find at Hock Choon, Paul started to question just how far this Hock Choon place I described actually was. Of course my excellent sense of direction finally got us there, but not after quite a long walk and quite a good amount of sweat beading down our faces. Our excitement upon our arrival was quickly extinguished when we realized they are closed on Sunday. Oops!


While not exactly the most fun adventure, it was a very good thing we went. We discovered the grocery store is not exactly within walking distance, and most definitely not within walking distance to the apartment when carrying several bags of groceries on a hot afternoon. I will be taking a "teksi".

We crossed from the boarded Hock Choon side of the street over the street bridge to a little restaurant called Secret Recipe. I think it's like McDonald's here with over 160 locations in Malaysia and some 50 or more in other Asia Pac countries. We both ordered Lemon Frosties to cool us down, and take a look at what was on the menu!



I gobbled down this salad like a very large rabbit and was so happy to get my vegetables in for the week,... or maybe these will have to last me the month. Since our Hock Choon exploration had been quickly cancelled, we decided to take a trip to Ikea. We knew there was one in the area, and planned on relying on the taxi to make the short jog around the city and drop us off, so we jumped in the Taxi.

Staring me in the face on the back of the driver's seat was this sign:

Thanks to the internet, I believe this translates to, "Be polite. Do not do indecent acts in the Taxi". I suppose this guy must have been a witness to some PG-13 incidents. In addition to the sign, we noticed a strange smell, and Paul asks me if I thought the guy had been tooting in the car. Very embarrassed, I whispered no and told him to shhh! Paul whispers to me that the guy doesn't speak English so I felt a little better. After all, Paul was the one doing all the talking trying to get the man to understand we wanted to go to Ikea, or E.K.I.A as the taxi driver called it, and not KLIA the airport. So we drove and drove and drove, and while looking at the beautiful green exotic scenery we realized E.K.I.A was much farther than we thought. It took about 30 minutes but we finally arrived and the taxi driver began telling us in very good English all about the Damansara are we were in and showing us the entrance to the Ikea building. I still think he completely understood Paul when he asked about the taxi driver passing gas, but Paul seems to think "tooting" is not a word they would have in their vocabulary. I guess that's another thing we will never know.

At Ikea, we were on a mission to find some casual dining dishes for the apartment. We could have shipped our dishes from home, but from Paul's moving experience, he said they always had a few things broken, so I didn't want to take that chance. So, we started at the beginning, and made our way around the long path through the store, following the arrows. If you've ever been through Ikea you know very well there is really only one way in, and one way out, and you can't get to the exit without walking the entire store which is quite large. We quickly realized we were the only people on a mission like typical Americans and would have to fight the crowd moving at a snails pace. This place was completely packed which reminded me of the museum we visited in Taipei. We were going no where fast. We reached the end to find no full sets of plates, but a very very full cafeteria. I'm wondering if some people go to Ikea just to eat, because this place was unreal and this picture doesn't do it justice.

We walked across the street to another mall, (I've been in more malls in the past two weeks than I have in my lifetime) to find an open air market in the center of the mall with more handicrafts. Paul insisted I take a picture of the cow because it was "like a little reminder of home".

After another fruitless search for dishes, we headed to a mall called the gardens, where we had spotted some that I liked earlier in the week and bought them. The hunt was over. Keep in mind there is not a Target or Walmart, or any large one stop shopping kind of store. So, finding these dishes has been a rather tedious event. I had previously shopped at both department stores in the KL area only to find that if you're not a fan of Corelle dishes with viny flower like drawings on the sides, then you're almost out of luck. I've also decided that department stores are where you buy everything that you might usually find at walmart, including school supplies or goggles, which after an hour search I finally found the goggles for Paul's morning swim next to the Monte Blanc pens inside Parkson department store.

I thought these dishes were fun and with an Asian design, especially with the rice bowl, it was fitting for our location.I guess we will be eating a lot of rice! Especially since after much deliberation we "had" to buy 8 sets. We thought about two just for us, but that idea grew to four sets in case we have people visit, which then grew two 6 sets since that's how many people our table here sits, and finally we stopped the count at 8 for when we bring them back to the states. Our table there sits 8, so it made perfect sense to me that we would have to have the complete set.

On our way out of Robinsons department store (which is very much like Macys or Dillards) we were carrying loaded down bags of dishes in both arms and I was stopped by the makeup ladies, or as Paul referred to them as, the makeup "lady boys". Three of them were trying to sell me eyelashes, and had it not been for their deep voices the only way I would have realized they were lady boys and not just ladies was when they one by one but very quickly got up in my face close enough to show me their left eye without the fake eyelashes, and the right eye with the fake eyelashes, pointing to them and saying "See, see!" I was a little surprised to have lady boys in my face so quickly, and a little shocked that they weren't just ladies that I had a hard time focusing on the eye lashes. I told them I would take a look next time I returned. Not sure I will be returning to Robinsons. I wish I had a picture to show for that one! We took the taxi back to the hotel after cramming our four bags of dishes and ourselves into the back seat. The trunk of taxi's here have the gas tank actually in the trunk and it looks like a large bottle of propane. Is that dangerous?

Saturday was for the most part uneventful, besides our shopping trip to Mid Valley. This is the area outside of KL city that has what's called the Mega Mall, and we've heard people rave about it. We walked around for quite a while, but to us it was just another mall. I think we'll stick to the two big malls here in KLCC.

Friday started with a trip around town on the way to my meeting with the UNHCR. UNHCR is on the street Bukit Petaling Jaya, which is not to be confused with Jalan Petaling. We of course confused the two, so we took a very long detour on the subway to Merdeka Square, and walked the rest of the way to Jalan Petaling, or the China Town area. After the usual confusion and sweat at 1pm in the afternoon, we decided the taxi should determine our fate and rode to the actual location of the UNHCR. We passed the king's house on the way, which was very large with really pretty landscaping and a tall wrought-iron fence around the entire property.

The UNHCR is in an old mansion situated on top of a hill. We had to talk through the fence to the 4 guards on the property to let them know why we were there. Security seemed pretty strict as they wouldn't even let us through the gate until someone from the building came to meet us. I figured it was probably not the place to take pictures seeing that the code of conduct I was given layed out many rules for not making pictures, people,and places related to the refugees public. The meeting went well with Yante, the woman I will be helping with the design work. I am designing their corporate folder, and she's asked me to be a sound board for some design ideas for World Refugee Day in June. They've also asked me to help design a catolog of some sort by the end of the week, as another volunteer has just bailed on that project. She also said whenever I feel ready to teach English, let her know and there are always plenty of positions available. The English classes are taught to school age children by incorporating other subjects and activities such as science, math, art, singing, etc. I might start doing that after the move to the apartment, which by the way has been moved to June 16th. Two more weeks in the hotel.

I cancelled my meeting with the YMCA. After meeting with UNHCR and realizing they have enough work to keep me busy if I want it, I decided to spend my time with them only. The big downside to the YMCA is there is no easy way to get there. Especially since I don't have a car. It's also in an area that I would be very nervous in by myself. So, I'm thankful the UNHCR has lots of volunteer opportunities for me.

Afterwards we headed back to Petaling Street and went to China Town. Paul was determined to get a good deal on something. He was very happy to find a knock off Rolex, which of course he did all his research for to make sure it was a "grade A fake".





Of course the rest of the weekend was filled with lots of eating. We attempted to eat at an Italian restaurant, with Italian owners and chefs, but got their 30 minutes too early. We'll have to try it out next week. And in case you're wondering, yes all this eating out twice a day for the past 17 or so days has lead to my very blimp-like state. I feel larger than the Hindenburg, but thankfully I can still get my pants buttoned! And as for this week, there's nothing special on the calendar, but I'm sure I'll find some trouble to get myself in. Friday is the King's birthday, so it's a public holiday! Hopefully we can make a trip to the beach or somewhere that would make for an entertaining story! Enjoy the pictures below.

The concierge said this giant moth/butterfly is part of the hotel staff. He lives in the bushes by the hotel entrance, but hangs out all day on the window.

The main street by our hotel at night with a weepy kind of tree that are so common here.

The chocolaty indulgence I helped myself to while Paul was at work.

The grass partition inside the hotel lobby. They are serious when they say it's a green building!

Petronas Towers over the tree tops of the hotel pool area.

The Pavilion Mall. Ground floor is nothing but message chairs and salesmen.

Chicken on hooks served for Chicken Rice.

Another mall

Donuts that people eat for meals here well after breakfast time.

The hotel pool at night. I'm tempted to get in that hammock, but I'm sure I'd be the one to flip a few times and land in the pool.