Mar 2008

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We're here to meet up with Danny and Linda, family via marriage through sister and David :-) Our stay here is very short. 40 hours or so. For our 3-4 month trip in SE Asia, we prioritized countries and locations we're not likely to visit again. KL, since we've family both in KL and Singapore, is likely a place we'll see again several times.

And as expected, KL was as luxurious, social and exciting as can be. Again, with family, the tuk tuks and taxis are pushed aside for German designed automobiling in the form of Danny's Mercedes (Thanks Danny). Danny met us at the airport. And he and Linda hosted us at their super house in KL. And I do mean super – you should see their kitchen. For those not familiar with KL, its quite modern and clean. New construction everywhere. There's much wealth in the city—many foreign cars as well as Malaysian cars. Western stores and Asian stores pretty much selling anything you want. While the ethnic mix is Malaysian, Chinese and Indian, mostly, English is very common here. Its not a national language, but most everyone will be able to speak it. And, of course, there are endless places to eat.

In fact, the eating and socializing began for us right away. That first night we met Carl, Moses and Pat (Carl's wife's parents) for dinner at a Malaysian eattery. Food was great. Talk was great.

The only downside was that Danny wouldn't let me pay. You'll see this theme throughtout the KL entry. Later that night we went to a bar, Ol' skools. This is the type of place that David (Naidu) would love. Live music, friendly folks. Our attempts to pay for drinks were brushed aside by Danny.

The next morning we were off to sightsee. Batu caves then Petronas towers. Caves were cool. The monkeys were mellow compared to those at Uluwatu, Bali.

Petronas is super luxurious and modern. We didn't go up but did see the mall in the downstairs. Fantastic. Again, there's a LOT of wealth here.

Of course some shopping at Petaling Street – the area where street vendors sell everything fake (goods are from China – intellectual property rights? Doesn't exist in Asia). Of course, Ren joins in the fun and purchases a Prada male purse. At least he thinks its a male purse.

The day was, however, dominated by food. Malaysian food, Indian food (banana leaf restaurant where you eat with your hands) and finally Chinese food at Danny's club. Everything was delicious. Mose, Pat, Carl and his wife Melanie joined us for dinner.

After about 3 hours of sleep, we were on the move to the airport. Unbelievably and under constant protest from both Patty and Ren, Danny drove us the entire day and night including the 40 minute ride back to the airport. We're humbled by his and Linda's generosity and kindness.

Sediman:
Goodbye Ubud! We're off on the adventure trail. That took us to a very small, little town called Sideman (see-deh-man). This is situated along the volcano's hill, though we still had several great views of the volcano peak itself from town and our hotel. We chose Sideman because we ran into a hippie couple from Berkeley (yep, small world) who spoke highly of its beauty and nature. And, because it's the road less travelled by tourists.

Sideman proved to be a mixed bag for us. First of all, yes, it was very pretty and perhaps more traditional and virgin than other locations one visits in Bali. People without fault would all stare at us (happily) and smile and say “hello”. Kids without fault would smile big and try their 5 or 6 words of English on us. And as we walked around, we saw Bali folks working hard along the rice paddies (make that really hard). Often barefoot. Several of the men just wearing a sarong instead of shorts. Women carrying huge heavy things on their heads while climbing the muddy paths along the rice paddy.

The hotel in Sideman left a little something to be desired (patty thinks it left A LOT to be desired). When we checked-in, we were the only guests there. Mind you, the Berkeley hippies loved the place. And, there was some charm--it was an open air hotel. So, your room couldn't completely be sealed-off from insects and spiders and such. We saw a spider that was probably about 5 inches across. (The woman, who came to give us a massage, actually touched it!!) Patty didn't care for this too much. Then that evening, we had the delightful surprise of finding ants crawling all over our bed. On the plus side, the bathroom was also an open air bathroom. That was pretty cool. Ren showered with rain water as well as the hot water from a pretty good shower. We took pictures. Patty won't let us share them.

Our most poignant memory of Sideman is likely our “small” hike. We were hoping for a 1 hr hike in the morning; ya know... before the sun rose into a scorching, burning, hellish mass above our heads. Nice idea. But when you're more or less mapless and looking for landmarks on freshly rained-on rice paddies, you might miss a few turns. Our trail of tears took us about 3-4 hours to complete.

With the noon sun approaching, we were sure we were lost. As we walked further in-land, villagers seemed to look at us whiteys more and more puzzled... “Why are they here? What do they want?” We encountered countless field workers with sickles for rice farming firmly in their hands. The sickle sure would be a simple way to shine these silly westerners. No?

Eventually we made it out unscatched though perhaps 5lbs lighter due to water loss. People, as always, were as friendly as can be. Including the topless woman bathing herself and her children along the road.

The picture below is of rice midway in the harvesting process. We saw this several times during the hike :-)

Nusa Lembongan:
We stayed in Sideman only one night. Next morning post hike, we were on our way to the next hippie-recommended location—Nusa Lembongan, a tiny island off the southeastern coast of Bali. The reason for going to Nusa was that the beaches throughout Bali were mediocre at best. Very little sand and lots of trash. We're talking real trash too—bottles, bags, old shoes, and all sorts of plasticy non- biodegrable junk that washes up ashore from other islands or Bali itself. Progress!

Supposedly Nusa would afford us beautiful clear blue waters. Thus, we planned to spend one night on the tiny island.

Getting to the island was quite cool. We took the local boat from Sanur at 8am. This was a 30 foot (maybe longer) wooden boat. Without a dock, the boat comes perhaps 40-50 feet from the shore and then we just walk towards it. This while holding onto your luggage. Watch out for the waves!

90 minutes later, we were ashore. We rented a scooter and we're off to find the hotel we reserved. The roads, if you can call them that, weren't driveable at times, but that's part of the adventure. Once at the hotel, we just kind of beached, rested, ate, etc.. We did find a pretty little white sandy beach. It's not the stuff that beach dreams are made of, but it was quite nice. We assume we'll see those types of dreamy beaches when we finally make it to Thailand. At least, we're counting on it.