Lemon Grass Shots and Sleep...

My expectations may have been a bit unrealistic by thinking I'd have time to post something each day, but I will certainly try valiantly to do so.

The last couple of days have been spent working, learning, and attempting to catch up on sleep and become acclimated to my new environment.  Needless to say, I've been eating a great deal of Asian cuisine, and thus far, it has all been quite delicious. For lunch this afternoon, it was a Korean pancake. Shaped like a personal size pizza and cut into similar triangle-shaped slices, it was made with fresh green onion and prawns and was rather delectable.  Other than food, cab rides, training, and sleep, there hasn't been too much excitement these last couple of days. Monday night, however, was a great deal of fun. My colleagues and I wanted to find a spot to share a glass of wine, and after being dropped off in the middle of a street without much further direction, we found ourselves at Neo Tamarind, a gorgeous restaurant that is known for it's imitation of Bali. There were statues of Buddha greeting you in the entrance way and small, serene ponds with small fountains throughout the walkway of the entire restaurant. The best part was that, as is the case with most restaurants here in KL, Neo Tamarind is open air and the breeze at night paired with the intimacy and serenity of the decor created such a relaxed and peaceful atmosphere.

When we first sat down, we were immediately brought shot glasses with a green-tinted, syrupy liquid. After some contemplation and hesitant sips, we realized they were shots of lemon grass juice, and delicious lemon grass juice, at that.  I've posted a few pictures below.

Love from Kuala Lumpur.

Bukit Bintang

So far today has been pretty productive. After a decent night's sleep, I had many errands to run in preparation for the rest of the week. The day started off with an intense search for breakfast- Lucky for me, my roommate and colleague has brought with her a guide book specific to Kuala Lumpur and the areas in which we we be living and working. After finally agreeing on a place that her book labeled a "top choice," we hailed a cab and headed that way. The driver dropped us off in the correct area, but after roaming up and down the block a few times in search of 35 Jalan Dang Wangi, it became very apparent that we were not going to find what we were looking for. The numbers did not seem to make any sense at all so we decided to roam until we found something that caught our attention.

Luckily, our roaming led us to a lovely little spot called "Cafe Magpie" and they appeared to be serving breakfast! One of the options, and the one we ended up ordering, was served with two eggs, chicken sausage, sauteed mushrooms and your choice of coffee or tea for the bargain price of 13.90 Malaysian Ringgit (which translates to about $4.60 USD!!) Not too shabby. There was only one, small misunderstanding during the meal- when we asked for bottled water, we were brought two cans of coke and the woman was so sweet, neither my roommate nor myself had the heart to tell her that we didn't want them. I should mention that when she brought our check to us at the end of the meal, we learned that two cokes cost the same price as one entire meal. Needless to say, we looked up the Malay word for water, which ironically, is "air".

After breakfast we headed to an area known as Bukit Bintang (pictures above); it is Kuala Lumpur's prominent shopping district, and let me tell you, that is an understatement.  Driving into the area reminds me of looking into a kaleidoscope.. it just seems to get busier and busier with each twist and turn the cab makes. If you want to shop, Bukit Bintang is where you want to be. There are a plethora of malls and individual stores lining the streets. From Gucci and Louis Vuitton to an entire 5 story mall dedicated solely to selling electronics; truly, area is a one-stop shop. One of the malls housed an entire supermarket on ground floor and we were able to buy everything we needed to stock our kitchen with snacks and breakfast items for the week ahead.

The bellhops are especially nice to us and brought all of our groceries upstairs from the cab. I think this has something to do with our initial tip. Before we were able to exchange currencies, we gave them each $4 USD the first day for helping with our bags. $4 in American money is a little over 12 Ringgit and I'm guessing that's a pretty hefty tip....so that may or may not have something to do with their generosity- they're just reciprocating.   :)

Lots left to do, so I must get busy!

 

         This was the counter of a cake kiosk in one of the malls, and I though the diet statement was cute.
                                                   (The cakes looked amazing)

A WORLD of Misconceptions...

After many hours of travel I have finally made it to my final (yet still temporary) destination in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The process was rather hectic- from "random screenings" that caused me to nearly miss my first flight to taxi drivers slamming doors and throwing fits because we weren't quite prepared with their currency in hand, it has been an experience I will never forget.

Needless to say, I have learned many lessons on this first trek across the globe, but the most profound of these has been about my own misconceptions. As I mentioned in my first entry, Hong Kong was my first international travel location ever, and I don't think I would have ever envisioned it correctly had I not gone to see it for myself. From the 13 short hours I spent in HK, most of which I spent sleeping, I fell in love. Now, this excitement is literally based on a few miles stretch from the airport to the hotel and back, but it was enough to completely change my perception of Hong Kong and boy do I want to go back!


                                                        This is what I fell asleep to....

                                                   ...and this is what the sun brought with it.

While I realize that pre-judgement is unfortunately a commonality among humans, my hope is that we may all maintain an open-mindedness that allows for our pre-judgements to become realized misconceptions and treat them as such. Then we adjust. 

Until we meet again, Hong Kong. 

First stop, Hong Kong

Well, here we are. My passport has its first official stamp- Hong Kong. Never did I imagine that of all of the places in the world to visit Hong Kong would be my first stop. Unfortunately I'll only be staying long enough to get some rest before I continue on to KL in the morning, but considering our upgraded room with a wall full of windows overlooking a pool and giant, twinkling buildings, I have no complaints.

I'm keeping this one short as I am rather exhausted from traveling for almost an entire 24 hours with more to come tomorrow. I'll try to take some pictures of Hong Kong on my way to the airport since it was too dark tonight to see much.

Miss and love the United States and my favorite people.
Goodnight.