Kuala Lumpur and ManU

We took our first road trip with the Rav4! Last weekend we loaded up the car and headed up to Malaysia for a four-hour drive to Kuala Lumpur. It was an easy straight shot all the way there, literally one highway! And it was beautiful! Miles and miles of hills covered in an endless forest of palm trees, amazing.

We stayed in a hotel about 25 minutes outside of the city, Sunway Lagoon Resort. It was a huge resort built right into a giant water park and an enormous mall! There was plenty to do right there but we went on a couple adventures, too. The first day we relaxed and hung by the pool but the next day we headed to see the Batu Caves, which is a giant limestone cave system in the side of a huge mountain. One of the caves has been turned into a Hindu temple; this cave is called Cathedral Cave and it has a statue of Marugan at the entrance that is painted bright gold and is about 130 feet tall! The walk up the 272 steps is grueling but worth it. The cave is surprisingly large with a 300 foot ceiling, several statues, and a large Hindu temple. Unfortunately, there is lots of garbage strewn around on the floor of the cave but if you can look past that the cave is amazing and beautiful and all the monkeys that live there are very entertaining!

After our tour of the cave, we headed to the Genting Highlands - an amusement park town at the top of a nearby mountain. It was not a far drive to the highlands but most of it was up - we climbed almost 6,000 feet up the side of the mountain before we arrived. On our way up we stopped at a 13 story pagoda and climbed up to see the view! It was amazing; a 360 degree view of this mountaintop! And it was also the coldest we have been since we moved here - it felt great! It was pretty quiet the day we went but the resort has several casinos, an amusement park, some museums, the world's fastest cable car, and one of the world's largest hotels! We wandered around for an hour or so and then headed back down the mountain - the gorgeous drive in and out was worth the trip alone.

The next day we headed into the city to get tickets up to the Petronas Tower skywalk. We didn't get them. We arrived to the ticket counter (which opens at 8:30am) at about 9:30am and waited in line for about 10 minutes until they announced that all tickets were gone for the day. Ugh! So we wandered around the towers for a while, let the kids play at the huge playground, had lunch, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the Manchester United game that night!

Fearing a parking fiasco, we took a cab to the stadium which was a good call because people were literally parking and just leaving their cars in the middle of the highway because there was no parking anywhere! Crazy. We finally made it to the Bukit Jalil Stadium which seats 100,000 people and it was sold out! The game was great and surprisingly close - ManU only beat Malaysia 3-2. It was a very exciting game and although Ronaldo had already bailed on the team, we still got see both Rooney and Owen score great goals!! Very exciting!

The next day we headed back again to the Petronas Towers in hopes of getting tickets up to the skyway. We didn't get them. This time we got the ticket counter at 8:30am - right when it opened - only to stand in line for about an hour until they announced that all tickets were gone for the day. Ugh again! So unfortunately, we didn't get to see the view from Petronas but next time we'll be sure to head down to the ticket office at about 7am to get our tickets. After a quick coffee break, we got on the road and headed home. The drive back took us less than four hours and was again, very pretty. Hopefully that was the first of lots more road trips. . . we'll see.

After we returned from the trip and were still excited from the ManU game, we got tickets to the Liverpool game in Singapore for the very next weekend! Yes! So I also included a couple photos from that game where Liverpool whooped Singapore 5-0. And it was a bummer that Gerrard couldn't make the game but we watched Torres score a couple awesome goals! Another very exciting game!

Vietnam and Visit with Mom

The last couple of weeks have been great! Mostly because my Mom was here visiting! It was so much fun to have her in town but, of course, two weeks flew by way too fast. She may disagree, we ran her a bit ragged - but there is so much to see! We took her all around Singapore to show her all our favorite places like the bird park, the zoo, chinatown, and clarke quay. And we even took a few new adventures to places we hadn't yet seen like the Dragon Kiln, the Sentosa Merlion, and the Tiger Needle.

Then we spent four amazing days in Vietnam. We stayed in the Rex Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon. The hotel was very cool; it was old, with lots of history. Some of that history included stories of US officers staying there during the war. Those officers even helped to create a rooftop garden where many of them spent evenings drinking - much like we did! Our first day in Vietnam we just relaxed and had dinner at a delicous local restaurant called Lemongrass. And even though we had to sit through constant jackhammering, the food was delicious.

The next day we met Diep who would become our guide for most of the trip. The first place she took us was to the Cu Chi Tunnels. These are very famous tunnels that the Viet Cong used during the Vietnam War (which, interestingly, in Vietnam is referred to as the American War). The tour took us through the jungle and showed us several tunnel entrances and underground living areas. It was an odd feeling to see the tunnels and understand what the guerillas used them for and it was difficult to see some of the traps and devices that were used. It is hard to describe the feeling of being there and thinking of the war from that perspective.

At the end of the long tour and after tasting some of the local snake wine (eeeww!) we had the opportunity to go into one of the tunnels. Always willing to try anything, I followed the guide, Ethan, Jonah, and Matt down through one of the entrances. Once I got down there I realized what a bad decision I had made. Once you get down to the tunnels (we only went into the first of three levels which was 12 feet down!) I realized that not only are the tunnels so small that you have to crawl on hands and knees, but they are also pitch black with very little air. Not good. Since we were taking the short route (only 20 meters) I thought I'd be fine. Wrong. I started to freak out; all of my limbs began to buzz, I thought sure I was going to hyperventilate and pass out. I screamed up to Matt, who was crawling in front of me, that I needed to get out RIGHT NOW!!! He stopped so I could grab onto him in the darkness and then, to my utter relief, right around the next curve was the 20 meter exit. I climbed out gasping for air and near tears. Sounds silly now but I am pretty sure it was one of the worst places I've ever been. The boys loved it and even wanted to go back down again (which in my panic-stricken state I refused to allow them to do!). That is one experience that will haunt me for a long time - I am honestly having a hard time breathing now just thinking about it. Ugh. I should have stuck with my Mom and watched from the wide open jungle!

After that tour our day improved vastly! We got back to the hotel, freshened up, and headed out to a water puppet show. This is a very popular local artform where muscians sit on the sides of a stage and play music, sing, and even voice some of the puppets. The puppets come up out of a large water hole in the stage and perform lots of intricate dances. The entire show was in vietnamese and told many old, local stories. Though we could not understand the language, we were still able to understand parts of the stories. Very interesting. From there we went on to a River Boat Cruise which was awesome! We cruised along the coast and had an amazing dinner and were entertained the entire time by local dancers and singers. What an incredible day!

The next day we got up early for another round of Vietnam adventures. First we headed to a local Cao Dai temple. This is a local religion that combines Buddhism, Confusianism, and Taoism, among others. Although I don't completely understand the religion it was very interesting seeing one of their temples. It was very brightly painted and depicted many different people and animals on the ornate alter. From there we headed to the Mekong Delta to see some of the true, local lifestyles of Vietnam. We travelled to several islands along the delta and saw how some of the people make and sell different products using coconuts as well as products made from honey they harvest from bees. We even got to take a short donkey carriage ride and a rowboat through some of the canals - it was quite a different perspective of Vietnam than that in Ho Chi Minh City. After our tour of the islands, we stopped at a lacquer factory. Lacquer is a very popular artform in Vietnam and it was amazing to see how it is made from start to finish. We then spent a long time browsing the factory store and and purchasing a couple of beautiful pieces of art. That evening we had a delicious french dinner at Le Cordon Bleu.

The next day in Vietnam we headed to the coast to the small town of Vung Tao. It is a beautiful beach town with lots of gorgeous hotels. We toured what used to be the president's vacation home, then we headed down to the beach for some ocean fun. We spent a couple of hours swimming and collecting shells then headed back for a delicious meal at The Rex. Our last day in Vietnam we visited the Reunification Building, which is where the president and vice-president used to live and conduct business. It was a very interesting tour and we learned a lot more about the war and the history of Vietnam.

Vietnam was incredible and the whole visit with my Mom was great. I wish it had been longer but at least we still have lots of things left to see for her next visit. :)