Happy 4th of July from Kuala Lumpur!

Happy 4th of July! We get to celebrate Independence Day by exploring Kuala Lumpur… not too shabby I’d say. The girls and I took our time getting up and around today since we didn’t really have specific plans for our first full day in Malaysia. We did take advantage of the free breakfast provided by our hostel (toast and jam or PB with hot chocolate or coffee). This hostel reminds me a lot of the ones I stayed at in Europe with a kitchen and common rooms. Once everyone was ready to go we took the monorail to a popular pedaling street in Chinatown.

Here, the whole road is set up with stores, vendors, and rolling carts. You can buy almost anything you can think of here. Surprisingly, there were very few tourists here as we were some of the only white people around.

We also found our way to the Central Market, which is actually another round-shaped mall with 4 or 5 floors. We mostly spent time in here because there was A/C and it was ridiculously hot and humid today. Around 1pm we started to get hungry and went looking for a place to eat lunch. In Kuala Lumpur (and Thailand as well) restaurants are not widely available. Most people eat at street side vendors under large pavilions. The one we chose was like a busy cafeteria but with open-air sides. It was packed with people and we had to fight to get a table. For lunch I had chicken barbequed in a spicy sauce on top of rice. FABULOUS. Seriously, there is nothing I have eaten here that I haven’t liked.
I think mostly due to the heat, all of us were really exhausted and chose to head back to the hostel. I spent the afternoon taking a nap; the other girls watched movies in the common room. Since this is the night that Suzie, Jen and Kellie were flying home, they also spent time packing and getting things arranged to head back to the airport. But before they headed off, all of us went to a local dinner market called La Cuisine.

Here the manager of the restaurant helped us pick out the best dishes on the menu. I shared a tom yum soup with seafood in it with Kellie and had rice as a side. When we were finished, the manager provided us with a complimentary fruit dish for dessert! The Malaysian people are so friendly and welcoming. It makes me a little ashamed of how close-minded Americans can be.
After dinner we got our first glance at the beautiful twin towers beginning to light up. It really was a beautiful sight.

We walked back to our hostel (only about 5 minutes) so the girls could get their final things packed and ready to go. Their taxi came at 10pm; Renee and I hugged them and sent them on their way. It is so strange to be here with only Renee now… it means study abroad is really actually coming!! I CAN”T WAIT!