Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Have you gone through a hard week and then everything seems back to normal?  And you think, did that really happen?  What a week.  We departed Munnar, India on Christmas and we couldn’t find transportation.  Kelvis was sick again from spicy food so he’d been eating bread and rice for nearly a week.  At the last minute (everything was booked) we found a driver of a safari Jeep who agreed to take us to Theni for double the price (Ok, it was Christmas morning!).  The driver took us OFF-ROAD down the side of the hill on a NON-ROAD.  At some point he jumped back onto the road and we arrived at Theni in half the time.

One night later and we were on the road again.  The hotel manager corrected us before a major disaster (we were headed to the wrong bus station).  We hadn’t been to the bus station for 10 seconds and the bus conductor grabbed our luggage and yelled at us to get on the bus.  It was pulling out of the station as we arrived.  We had a fun two-hour bus ride with club music on blast to Madurai. (Spotify: Google Google by Vijay).  The conductor himself was half the entertainment, yelling and joking with every person on the ride.  Then coming into Madurai, Ken realized our hotel was on the bus route about 30 mins before the final stop.  With no notice, we jumped off the bus and grabbed our luggage (under the bus) all in about 30 seconds, as the bus pulled away.  With high fives all around we saw our hotel on that exact street corner, saving ourselves at least an hour of backtracking and extra expense.    

Ken and I had a fun date night visiting the Meenakshi Temple and the surrounding area (the boys stayed home).  We then grabbed the 3pm train to Chennai, enjoying a pleasant trip watching the lush tropical scenery outside the window.  After six hours as we pulled into the Chennai suburbs, we asked a nearby person how to get to our hotel.  A perfect stranger, he gave us directions to exit the train early, in almost the exact same scenario (jump off the train with no notice at an earlier stop and avoid back-tracking from the main train terminal to the hotel).  WOW!  Following the stranger, he led us through the chaotic train terminal, bought us tickets on a local train, and ensured we got to our destination.  We will never forget the kindness of that stranger who helped us with nothing asked in return.

We arrived in Chennai in the late evening hours and had a quick two nights. The boys ventured into town, yes, for McDonalds and more adventure on the local trains.  For Kelvis after 10 days of eating rice, he just wanted fries and a safe hamburger.  

At 5am on our way to the airport, a taxi tried to overcharge us by 50 cents and that made Ken crazy.  He refused to pay the exorbitant 50 cent up-charge and instead hailed down two tuk tuks to the airport.  Our flight was an easy four hours and exhausted, we landed in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (another non-visa country for Ugandan visa holders).

 

Twelve years ago, we had a layover in Kuala Lumpur and thought nothing of it.  We didn’t even leave the airport.  WOW!  We were WRONG!  After a tough week in India, we had the most fantastic few days here, I almost can’t explain it.  It’s like breathing a sigh of relief after a hard week, like, finally, everything makes sense again.  We are in a modern apartment on the 23rd floor (of a 50-floor high rise with an infinity pool on the 8th floor).  All our favorites are on our doorstep: coffee (everywhere!!!), WIFI, comfy beds, A/C, glass skyscrapers (Kelvis is in AWE), washing machine, cheap clean public transit, beautiful roads, Japanese food (Everett), Garretts popcorn (Hillary), virtual reality zombies, Petronas Twin Towers, and the nicest high-end shopping malls we have seen on the trip.

All our love for the new year.  Who knows what is to come for 2024?  It’s a beautiful and wild world.  Happy New Years from our new favorite country, Malaysia!!!