KP in KL

We continued the journey through some back streets finagling our way through the crowd of pedestrians and walking hip-to-window with the cars. After 5:00 the cars are second class to the pedestrians, so much so, each restaurant pull out a dozen more tables and give them a home in the left lane of the street. With Satay skewers cooking and lots of Malay meats being cooked over open flames, we could feel the heat of the evening doubling, and we both began sweating. Stephanie laughed when I went to wipe the sweat from my forehead, which apparently they are immune to. We sat at a little plastic table with plastic outdoor chairs not to close to the street just in case there were any angry car drivers waiting to clear the road with their grill. If you have ever imagined what a somewhat developing country looks like in a residential area, you've probably painted a great picture in your mind of this street where we ate. With 5 story apartments at our backs that were in desperate need of much more than a new coat of paint and laundry hanging from clothes lines on every balcony, we endured the heat while enjoying some really good Chinese food.

While we discussed life in the US we had some interesting questions from our two Malay tour guides, which I have to share so you can see what people on this side of the world really think of America and our way of life thanks to MTV Glee, and American movies.

1. I must be a cheerleader since I have blonde hair and" big" blue eyes.

2. Chinese take out boxes indicate a type of Chinese food all it's own. So they asked if it tasted good.

3. There are lots of cowboys in Texas and the "gangsters" are cowboys that shoot guns, unlike the gangsters in KL who ride motorcycles.

4. Kim Kardashian has way too much of everything. (They nailed that one on the head!)

After all the questions, Stephanie and her boyfriend let us in on the secret behind why they had so many questions. We are the only American couple they have ever met, and they usually watch American movies. They don't like British movies, so therefore have no interest in the people from the UK which seem to be more prominent than us cowboys. So throughout the night they were just as curious and just as eager to show us what makes Malays Maylay and KL, KL.

The next stop was China Town, which was definitely geared more toward the tourist than Taipei's China Town. Hundreds of small shops lined the t-shaped intersection on the sides and in the middle of the street. This was the Mecca of Houston Harwins. Silks, shoes, underwear, watches, purses, purses, purses, wallets, trinkets, black-market movies and anything else fake that you can imagine were here with the shop owners trying to get the most naive tourist to accept the high prices they were shouting. "70 Ringit Miss! You want watch sir? Best price. Come see!" So we walked and looked and walked and looked, but took Stephanie's advice to ignore people and keep walking. The minute you touch a handbag the sales people latch on like a leach and won't let you go until you're sucked dry.

We ended the night on a tired but more informed note and got back to the hotel where the concierge gave us a map when he realized by our sweaty faces we had been walking for some time. After a quick glance at the map we realized we done a huge circle around the entire city and covered quite a bit of ground in one night with the help of the subway. So we called it a night.

Sunday morning turned out to be beautiful and sunny, but not lacking the heat. We took a taxi to St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church. It happens to be one of two international churches we could find online, and of the two, the only one with an American pastor. The other was a Baptist church where the preacher from the online sermon clips sounded like the Governator, Arnold. When they claimed St. Andrew's as an international church, they weren't exaggerating. I think there was one representative from each country in the world there, or so it appeared. Every skin color, hair color and accent filled the tiny English Tudour style chapel showered by the colored light coming through the stained glass windows. As the service began, it was very cool that from the lips of each very unique person came the same praise song, "Shine, Jesus, Shine". We sang several other hymns, which I never imagined anyone outside of my little world knowing, and listened to a sermon from Corinthians. Paul and I were asked to stand up as visitors, and they welcomed us with applause. When church was over, we walked out to be greeted by a woman with an accent I could not mistake. It turns out she wasn't only from Texas, but from Katy and went to Kingsland, a church just down the road from my own. Not only do people around the world worship the same Creator as me, but there are people from my hometown in this part of the world! It is a very small world after all!

Today required that I get down to business and find a home for us to live in. I was picked up by Sharon, a Chinese realtor, in her blue Honda City (the Asian version of the Civic) and she took me to 9 different high-rise buildings. The challenge I've realized I will have in choosing a place is finding the place that is furnished and decorated to my taste, since these units come fully furnished including plates and knives. There isn't quite as much wiggle room as far as making the place your own goes. But, after seeing 8 units with 8 sets of very small closets or wardrobes as they call them here, I finally hit the jackpot with two really great units in our price range that I could call home.

These past few days we have been without cell phones. Talk about feeling naked! Without those things strapped to our hips things have felt a little out of whack. Thankfully my engineer husband and technically savvy better half was able to figure out how the unlocking of i-phones goes and we got Malaysian sim cards with Malaysian phone numbers and have been re-introduced to society again. Well, halfway at least. Paul still has to fix my phone. The other thing I've had to do without is my wonderful hair dryer. The miniature hotel hair dryers never seem to work the same, so I've walked around with totally frizzed out hair since the day we arrived. Lovely! I plan tomorrow to take my first outing without Paul to the Pavilion, yet another shopping mall to find a new hair dryer that works with 220 volt outlet. I also saw in the paper the Pavilion is one of four places that sells Laura Mercier makeup! I am very excited about that. Seems the 70 pound luggage I brought full of this face paint was a little unnecessary. But, a girl scout is always prepared!

So with cell phone almost in hand, a hair dryer on the way, a house in the works, and China Town pin pointed for the next shopping spree, I'm feeling a little more confident that I'm living in a much smaller world. (Not small enough however that I won't get lost. Mom, don't worry. I'll keep my adventures on my own to a two block radius.)