Beginning of the End

Monday: Up at like 4:30 to say goodbye to my dad and Nisa, as they were leaving for the honeymoon. Back to sleep. Slept in for the first time in a quite some time, which was absolutely wonderful. We got up and there really wasn't much here for breakfast, so Tie and I decided to walk over to Mines to get something to eat and look around. About 2 minutes out of the door and it starts pouring down rain. Of course. We had umbrellas but it really didn't do much good. After almost losing my flip flop to the mud, we made it there. Completely drenched and coming in to air conditioning is not a pleasant feeling. We went over to Old Town White Coffee and I had some delicious french toast. It was stuffed with Peanut Butter :-) Love me some peanut butter. We sat and talked for about an hour or so, which was wonderful. I don't get to see her as often as I would like so it was good to just chat. We walked around and did some shopping, took care of getting some souvenirs and found some pants to wear so that we could ditch the nasty wet jeans. I bought my bag of Milo to take home! yummy!!! Walked back to the house, and thankfully it wasn't raining this time. We hung around the house for a while. After dinner Nisha, Tie, Siti, Rabitha and I piled in the car and headed over to this place called Jusco to look around maybe do some more shopping. Their mom and Aunt Sal and Duan and Nana met us there and we all walked around for a bit. Eventually Nisha, her mom, Rabitha, Sal and I went and got traditional Thai foot massages. OH MY GOODNESS soooo relaxing. I am still shocked that I didn't fall asleep in the chair. The rinse your feet over these stones, and then lead you to the massage chairs. They then wrap your feet in towels and bring you this lovely tea to drink. It was a roughly 25 minutes on each foot/leg and then 10 minutes on the shoulder/neck/scalp area. I wish I could have someone do that for me every day. Once we left there it was back to the house where Tie and I had a date to watch the Amazing Race. All in all a fantastic day!

Tuesday was really low key... went over to Sal's for lunch and then lounging around watching TV. It was rainy and kind of dreary. After that we went to Aunt Ina's house to say goodbye to Ayin :-( It was her last night in Malaysia before heading back to school in Australia! I already miss that girl so much!!! I unfortunately had a splitting headache so fell asleep in car on way back, and then straight to bed.

Wednesday was another active and amazing day! Nisha, Tie, Rabitha, Siti and I headed out for adventures around KL. Our first stop was the Kings Palace. You can't go inside the gates, but you can look through them and we took pictures with the mounted guards outside. After there it was off to the Muzium Negara (National History Museum) of Malaysia. It was a really interesting place to visit. Outside they have three different trains from Malaysia's history. In the main museum there are four separate halls: Gallery A: Early History, Gallery B: the Malay Kingdoms, Gallery C: the Colonial Era, and Gallery D: Malaysia Today. I learned a lot of things about the country and its history. Next stop was this open air aviary, but we only had lunch. We ate at the Hornbill restaurant ! It was sooo good. I had mushroom soup with bread, and chicken satay with peanut sauce. We ate out on the balcony and birds would fly right up and sit on the railing beside you. Such beautiful birds. After that we visited the KL war memorial. It was a very nice war memorial, with purple water and fountains and a statue honoring fallen soldiers. On the way back to the car we stopped at a chocolate shop, so I was in heaven. During the evening we went to Petaling street, which is a small line of "shops" near Chinatown to buy cheap souvenirs and knock off purses and watches and that kind of thing. Almost like a flea market. It was a bit too confined and hot for me. Next up was a fruit stand on the side of the road so that they could get Durian. That fruit tastes good, but oh the smell is atrocious. I tried this fruit called mangosteen and it is amazing. Sadly I don't think I can find it at home in the US. It looks like a plum with leaves on it, but the bottom has a flower design and depending on the number of petals it tells you how many pieces are inside. If you don't crack it right I learned it turns your fingers purple. I don't care, it was so good. Since eating never stops we went to another side of the road/hole in the wall food place and met Sal, uncle Raus, Duan and Nana and had some food. I had roti canai with condensed milk. MMMM! Another great but exhausting day.

Today (thursday) We went out to finish up some shopping and took their mom with us. We went to Central Market first which is a small indoor shopping center. I got almost all of the rest of my souvenirs there, plus a purse for myself. My new grandma (their mom) bought me this beautiful ring with an amethyst type stone in it. It is so lovely. Ate lunch again at Old Town White Coffee (another franchise that need to be stateside), where Ina met us. Next stop was India Town again to get the rest of the items I was looking for for people. Grandma bought me a nice blue top and Ina bought me a gorgeous turquoise scarf. I just about finished up all my shopping for people. Came back and did a bit of packing/re-organizing of items.

Just sitting around watching TV right now and getting a bit sad that the trip is almost over. Tomorrow brings last minute shopping, packing and getting Dad and Nisa from airport. Having a big dinner with all the family and then flight 9:40 Saturday morning. :-( I will try to update before I get home, but doubtful. I will likely have a trip wrap up within a day or two of getting home.

I LOVE KL!!!!