Weeeeee'rrrreeee baaaccckkkk

Well now, where to start? Here? Okay, we'll start in KL.

They like to say KL (Kuala Lumpur) is multi-cultural. It was started by rich Chinese miners, brought in some Malays and Indians, and then the Brits came to colonize. All true. That said, like America, multicultural does not mean non-exclusive. If you walk into many areas of America you can see many different races/ethnicities but normally segregated, often de-facto. The same can be said here. Though you run into many Chinese, Malay, and Indians, they are all almost always separated. There's nothing wrong with it unless you are the Malaysian government and keep promoting this united Malaysia. Its an interesting concept that deal with rule of law, respect and a shared vision of progress. They put it in the newspapers and its talked about on tv. They do seem to get along rather well, with the main Hindu temple located in Chinatown as a prime example.

The Petronas Towers are here in KL. You may recall that they had been the tallest buildings in the world back in the mid-90s. Some building in the UAE now has the title, but it is my understanding that they are still the tallest twin-buildings in the world. They give out only 1640 tickets a day to go up to the Skybridge that connects the two towers. Sadly, we have not been able to secure tickets so we have walked around the complex, stared longingly at them, and are currently in the mall at the bottom on the computer. Super-cool structures, especially at night.

Speaking on being on computers, there is a serious lack of interet cafes here. We've looked, trust me, we've looked. Our hotel does not have any computers (but does have some major issues in terms of noise). There's plenty of free wifi, but trying to blog from my IPod is a major pain in the backside.

That noise you hear, its the alarm going off at the department store under the hotel. Yes, its gone off 3 times the last 2 nights. No you haven't slept particularly well. What? That's not happened to you? Oh right, yeah, that's what has happened to us. It SUCKS. In addition to the noise, they've got this amazing shower at the hotel, except that no matter how well the door is shut, it still leaks and there is plenty of water all over the bathroom floor. Its maddening.

The trip is about over, in fact at this time tomorrow, we'll be somewhere over India I think, or some other Asian country that is north of Malaysia. I'm not sure I'm ready for it to be over and all the things that await back home. School, Cross-Country, the garden, laundry, etc. Its not that I don't like home, I do. Its great, but at the same time, this trip has been so relaxing (even if frustrating at times, like today when we couldn't get tickets to go up the Towers. Yes, I'm still bitter) and I'm not quite ready to come back. The near 20 hours of flying that will commence at 9am my time (9pm East Coast, US-time) certainly has something to do with it. Really, 20 hours on a plane. 13 to London and another 7 back to JFK. Joy! I'll probably have read the entirety of "Red Storm Rising" by the time I land.

I haven't gone into our time with Rina because I was going to save that for Reg. As we both can't be logged in and blogging at the same time, I'll go into it a little now, with the rest to be blogged at some later point.

Day 1 in Aceh: Land, wait an hour to get through Immigration. Why an hour for one plane? Well, there was 1 person taking Indonesian passports and one doing foreign passports. When the half of the plane that just had to go and smile and be waved through were done, the Officer who was doing the Indonesian passports just sat there and wouldn't take anyone else. One guy, doing about 35 people. Still, we got through with no problems. Rina was jumping up and down with excitement and her sister and father were just laughing in bemusement. They drove us around, got some food (hot, hot, hot!!!) and coffee, and then were dropped off for the ferry ride to Weh. Upon arriving at our hotel in Weh, we were shown to Bungalow 8, where we got to sit in a hammock, relax looking out at the crystal clear water in front of us and then we promptly got changed and dove in. AWESOME!!!The waves were light, the sand was soft, and the breeze glorious.

Day 2: Wake up, lay around, eat, go down to go in the water, do some snorkeling, get a little seasick from letting the waves take me wherever, take a nap, go back to the beach, read, eat, read, sleep.

Day 3: Must kill wild dogs (loose ones more like it) who fought all night. That said, go eat, go to the beach, snorkel, nap, eat, read, eat, nap, go to beach, sleep.

Day 4: Back on a ferry to Banda Aceh and Rina. What? No, Rina at the terminal? Hmmmm. Okay, 10 minutes late but thankfully Reg no longer has to endure the stares of people who've obviously never seen such a pale, fair-haired, busty woman! Drive around with Rina's sister and brother-in-law. Coffee, food, food, food, food, food. Stop at the house to meet her mom, take a nap, eat some food, and then off to the beach. The weather was breezy and cloudy, some drizzle, but into the water we went. The beach was followed by eating the best grilled fish I've ever had right next to the sand, then back to the house to eat some more. Did I mention we ate? Then we went off for some coffee.

Day 5: Eat, sleep, eat, go to an engagement party, eat, nap, eat, go around town, get some food, drink some coffee, eat, eat, talk, talk, eat.

There's plenty to talk about but I need to get going. Aceh will be done deeper sometime soon. As for now, I'm going to enjoy the rest of my time on vacation.

Terima Kasih.

N