Kuala Lumpur June 2017

At the police station talking to a guy with a big gun? Done.

Trip to the pharmacy to get band aids for a bloody toe? Duh.

Just all in a day's work in Malaysia. 

But before...

My last day in Cambodia I spent  at the Phnom Tamao Wildlife Sanctuary. I had read about it on Trip Advisor and felt like I have had my fill of the city and wait, did you say I could feed elephants?! The scantuary is sponsored by various NGOs from the US and the UK and my donation went to Wildlife Alliance which sponsors rescued elephants, tigers, leopards, monkeys, birds, river otters and more.

We met Lucky, and elephant who has been sick on and off and currently has a 24 hour /day guide that walks with her. Lucky is one of 150 elephants kept in captivity in Cambodia today, and there are about 300 in the wild.  She was mild mannered, enjoyed all the pineapples and mangos we gave her and loved the pets and hugs. She was 200 kg underweight yet still much bigger than our van. Another cool story is Chhouk, an elephant with a prosthetic leg.

We got to watch the process of putting it on and off and it is one big foot!

Throughout the day we heard various stories about animal laws in Southeast Asia, various NGOs on the ground, how the locals feel about the elephants etc. I also got to learn a ton from Dan, a guy on tour who is from Chicago,  lived in SF and has spent the last 4 years teaching in Vietnam and Cambodia.  Always great to talk to teachers from abroad especially when they are cool!

That eve, I did yoga near the house and that marks the first time I did some form of exercise during this trip. Notice that  it is not the first time I mentioned eating!

One of the most interesting things about Phnom Penh are the foreigners that live there. While few tourists (it's low season) there are many many expats making Cambodia their home.  I met Australians, Brits,  Canadians, Americans, Dutch and everyone wants to call it home. Some permanently, some for several years. I have never noticed that in places before, usually where there are tourists there are those that stay but not really the other way around. Cambodia is special! 

I ended my trip with a dinner at a Russian restaurant and off I went to meet Heather in Kuala Lumpur.  New country, new adventures!

Facebook recommendations provided some excellent tips for Siem Reap and Hong Kong but failed miserably at Phnom Penh  (that's right, no one really goes there, read the lack of tourists part!) I had high hopes for Kuala Lumpur recs as I have several people who have lived and traveled in the area. It became painfully obvious that this concrete jungle didn't have much to do other than shop and eat. I thoroughly enjoy one of the these two. 

Heather and I had booked an AirBnB in a hotel in a central area. There is only so much you know when you look quickly at a map and make a decision, we really didn't know where or why we booked this area.  Until we got here. The famous Jalan Alor "food heaven" street is here, the fancy restaurants are too. One street of massage places we dubbed "Massage Row" has people attacking you trying to make a deal for various types of massages. Let's just say in Southeast Asia you can include many add ons to your massage but really all we wanted was foot and/or traditional Thai.  None of that funny business,  thanks. 

Coffee in a bag (yes, plastic baggy, not a cup) bbq bacon on a stick, deep fried pineapple, pork bun dim sum, masala dosa, liquid nitrogen meringue cookies and sesame balls later we decided we should probably get some drinks. All that prior food cost about $2 each so we sprung for a delicious jug of sangria and some tapas at an amazing Spanish restaurant Pinchoa.  The street food amazingness and ridiculously priced tourist trap restaurants are a block away from each other and the clientele so so different.  With Achy Breaky Heart and Britney Spears coming from the fancy restaurants, the Spanish choice seemed like a good one  and it didn't disappoint.  It was some of the best Spanish food I've ever had  (that's right Teleferic in Walnut Creek, take notes).

A great rec I got from Tom and Rachell who lived in Kuala Lumpur (and I *almost* visited years ago), was to check out the Forest Research Institute Malaysia. I'm noticing a trend in all the big cities, I've left every single one of them to go to a rainforest! FRIM is the largest manmade forest in the world and has a neat canopy walk. That part became so popular in the last 25 years that the FRIM was closing all tours on June 30th and taking the canopy walk apart to preserve the trees.  We were our guide's last tour and after 8 years he was teary eyed telling us about it. We learned about all kinds of neat trees, uses for medicinal purposes and cooking and hiked 2 miles with some great elevation. I'm glad we got to do this before it closed forever and our guide Wahid made it extra special. Oh and his birthday is July 13th too! 

Food? Ok! A three hour dinner took us back to coffee in a bag and some yummy Thai food. I love traveling solo but it's also lovely to have a real conversation with someone who knows me. Heather and I don't talk about where we are from or what we do! Second massage and a trip to the Sky Bar at the top of the Traders Hotel made me stay up till 1 am, I rarely do that. The views were beautiful, there was a pool in the middle of the bar (don't ask), Petronas Towers lit up the sky and our time in Kuala Lumpur came to an end. Today we are off to Indonesia!

Petronas from the 33rd floor

These trees will never touch each other 

Coffee bags!