T-minus 5 days

Yes, I know I have been a neglectful blogger yet again... but I'm on my way back to the US in only five days!

For those of you with the patience to continue checking the blog, here's a shot we took when we went exploring the KLCC (KL City Centre) area by the Petronas Towers....

Gloria (China), Cristina and Jon (Australia), Eric (China) and me

Low Key Weekend

This past weekend was more relaxing than the past few - we didn't have any major adventures planned, and I think all of us were in desperate need of a rest.

The absolutely lovely people that we work with decided that we should spend the day being less like tourists and more like real Malaysians, so they planned our Saturday for us... and we had an absolute blast!



We started the morning at Hong Kee Tim Sum for a dim sum breakfast. Dim sum is a Chinese cuisine with a variety of steamed dishes - definitely not the typical American style of breakfast but completely delicious. I managed to successfully eat my breakfast with chopsticks BEFORE my coffee. I couldn't resist a typical Malaysian coffee to finish the meal though. Yes, my coffee is in a bag with a straw. "Coffee in a packet" may be my next favorite Malaysian treat besides "Corn in a cup." Perhaps everything just tastes better when served in a unique container?

After breakfast, we headed over to The Curve for some shopping and karaoke. Yes, I said karaoke. It was actually surprisingly fun. You don't have to embarass yourself in front of a bunch of strangers - only people you know :) Karaoke Box, as it's called, allows you to rent a room for a group of friends to sing karaoke. Put 10 of us in a room after a breakfast and hefty dose of coffee in a packet and you get three hours of crazy karaoke fun. The highlight of the day was the performance of Gangsta's Paradise by Robin and me. However, I won't be posting proof of that one on the web - my limits of embarassment only extend to the walls of that karaoke room.

After karaoke, we headed outside to the street market that is held at The Curve every weekend. It's sort of become my unofficial mission to shop at as many locations as possible in KL. The rest of the day was very relaxed - we crossed the street to another mall, 1 Utama, and had some pampering girl time with manis and pedis. The bargain of the day ended up being the five pairs of adorable shoes that only cost me $51 US total. What better way to end the day than with a great deal on shoes?

Suji, me, Robin, and Annette with our new sunglasses from the street market

More stairs than I care to count...

On Sunday, we booked a tour through the hotel concierge. The main objective of our tour was to visit the Batu Caves, where visitors climb 272 steps up a mountain to visit a Hindu shrine inside a 400 million year old cave. However, we ended up getting a package deal with multiple stops throughout the day. And you all know that I love a good deal :)

Our first stop was the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM). We didn't really anticipate this stop on our trip, so no one had any bug spray with them -- which would have been a necessity if we wanted to go on the canopy tour. However, we did go for a short (uphill!) hike to one of the waterfalls on the property. It seems like everyone comes to FRIM to enjoy the outdoors - people were playing tennis, having a picnic, and splashing in the water. It was so hot outside, I was tempted to jump in the water myself!















After relaxing in the very powerful air-conditioning in our little tour van (thank god for a/c!), we headed over to the Batu Caves. Everyone that I have spoken to said that a visit to the caves is an absolute must if you are in KL. While I was not blown away by the temples and shrines inside the caves, the setting was definitely unforgettable! Devotees, and crazy tourists like us, must climb 272 very steep steps to get to the caves. Great exercise, but not the most enjoyable activity on a very hot day. However, the caves were beautiful and the view of the surrounding area was a great reward for the climb!

We made it!

The Batu Caves are also known for the very aggressive monkeys that live there. Thankfully, we did not have any monkeys try to grab our belongings, but we did see one grab at another visitor's bag. I couldn't resist a picture of this cute little guy!
As in India, no tour is complete without some mandatory stops at various shops. Tour bus drivers must love people like me, because of course, I always have to buy something. We stopped at a batik shop and I picked up several scarves as gifts and a beautiful sarong for myself. Who wants one as a Christmas gift?

We ended the day with a stop at the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory, which has been producing hand-crafted and hand-finished pewter in KL since 1885. We got to take a tour of the factory and see how the various pewter products are made. I was really impressed with the woman who makes the hammered pewter by hand - we got to try it and it is impossible to get the hammer indentations in a line and as close together as she manages to. We also stumped upon the School of Hard Knocks, where visitors can make their own pewter bowl. Of course, I had to sign up for that - I've been craftier here in KL than I have ever been in Raleigh! We learned how to hammer a pewter disc into a bowl, and got our very own graduation certificates - plus a great souvenir!

John, April, Gloria and I with our bowls and certificates

I'm Praying for Snow

On Saturday, we headed back to downtown KL. I'm sure you're noticing a theme here - we head to downtown KL every weekend, since there really isn't anything to do in Putrajaya, where we're staying. It's a lovely hotel, but the main selling point is that it is very close (15 minutes) to all the tech companies in Cyberjaya. There is really nothing out here to entertain us. Thank goodness for the free shuttle from the hotel!

We decided to go to the top of KL Tower to get some pictures of the city. KL Tower is about the same height as the Petronas Twin Towers, but you can get up much higher in the building, so you get a much better panoramic view of the city. The (insane) heat made it a little hazy, but we still got some pretty neat pictures. It's amazing how much construction is taking place in this city - there are new skyscrapers being built all over the place!









KL Tower also has activities and exhibits around the base of the tower. We walked around the animal park, where the majority of the animals on display were snakes. They also had a caged raccoon, since it's apparently an exotic animal here. They also had a winter wonderland display (which was not air-conditioned!). I got a huge kick out of seeing the snowmen and penguins on display, since the average temperature has been around 90F every day. It's insanely hot here, especially when you're out walking around the city. I have my A/C in my hotel room turned up as high as it will go!

We decided we needed a little history, so we went to the National Museum. The building is part of a large complex including the planetarium and lake gardens, so we spent some time in the A/C wandering around the museum and learning about the history of Malaysia while deciding what to do next. By the time we were done with the museum, we were starving. Outside the museum, we discovered my new favorite thing - Corn in a Cup. OMG. It's just hot corn, butter, and salt -- all in a cute little cup, and it only costs $1.00! Yum.

We hiked from the museum over the gardens, and got a little lost somewhere near the planetarium. After what seemed like a mile of all up-hill climbing, we managed to find the lake. It is a beautiful oasis in the middle of the city -- and strangely empty for such a great park area. You can go boating on the lake, stop by the deer park, or do what we did - vist the orchid garden.

It started to rain, so we grabbed a taxi and headed to Low Yat Plaza. Yes, we went to another shopping mall - but this one was six stories of technology goods! Jon picked up a great camera for a very reasonable price, and we wandered around for a while playing with all the laptops and cool gadgets. Before we headed back to Putrajaya for the night, we stopped off for dessert. Cinnabon is alive and well in Malaysia :)

Up next - we visit the the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM), the Batu Caves, and the Royal Selangor Pewter Factory.

Downtown KL, Shopping, and Batik

On Saturday morning, we decided to take the shuttle from our hotel to downtown KL. The shuttle dropped us at the base of the Petronas Towers. One of the things on our to-do list is to go up into the Towers, but we need to get downtown very early in the morning, since they only give out a limited number of tickets. Unfortunately, you can't go any higher than the sky-bridge, so you really don't get to go very far up in the towers.

We took a (very very long) walk through downtown KL to the Central Market, which is located in an old Art Deco building just on the edge of Chinatown. I was able to get a lot of very unique gifts (both for me and for others!), so I had a great time shopping there. All of the guidebooks had said that no one walks in KL -- and I can understand why! It was a several kilometer walk from the Towers to the Market, and it was so hot and humid that the walk just seemed to take forever! We did wander over to Chinatown after we left the Market. It was very similar to Chinatown in NYC -- lots of street vendors and imitation designer goods.

We had to duck back inside Central Market in mid-afternoon to avoid the daily downpour, but once the rain stopped, Robin and I headed over to the Sunway Pyramid Mall. The malls in KL are nothing like the malls in the US. Most of them are more like the Mall of America, not the typical mall most of us head to on the weekend. Hundreds of stores, bowling alleys, ice rinks... there is truly a mall culture here in KL.

This morning, we headed back downtown to walk around and explore some more. We had been referred to the Jadi Batek Center by another IBMer, and we had a great time. For a small fee, you can actually make your own batik! You draw on the cotton with a wax pen, and then paint it using a very thin water based paint. The colors spread on the material very quickly and the wax keeps the colors from spreading outside the pre-defined areas. Once the fabric is washed, the wax comes off, and the white fabric shows through. It took me a while to get used to the proper way of coloring the fabric, but I think the result is pretty good!

We also stopped off at the Pavilion Mall for lunch. I couldn't resist adding another mall picture - they are just so large and overwhelming, and seem to be on just about every corner!

Tomorrow, we head back to work -- but we're planning already for next weekend, so I'll have more to blog about then!

A Very Random Post

I don't really have much new news to share, but since I promised everyone that I would blog more during this trip, I figured I'd at least post this to say hi to everyone!

Work has been going well. The ride from the hotel to the office is about 15 minutes away, so it's a nice commute. There really is not much traffic here, and the roads are all very new and smooth. KL is really a beautifully kept city - there is all sorts of landscaping and gardens planted along all the roads and medians, and even the lightposts are decorative.

We have new trainers arriving tonight - two from China and two from Australia, so it will be nice to meet new people and learn more about the different countries and their processes. I think we are also going to try to do some shopping this weekend. I planned ahead while packing and saved plenty of room in my luggage for all my purchases! We're planning on going to a batik store where you can make your own batik, so that will make a neat souvenir to bring home. And since it's Easter on Sunday, we're also going to try to find a place to have a nice brunch.

I promise I'll get the camera out and start to take pictures this weekend - especially if we venture outside the hotel and the office!

I made it to Kuala Lumpur!

So I was a bad blogger and neglected to tell you all about the last few weeks I spent in India. Perhaps I'll post some pictures if I get some time... but for now, I'm in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia!

I just arrived early this morning after 28 hours of traveling - including 21+ in the air! The high point of the whole trip was when I got detained at Heathrow because apparently my hand luggage contained traces of explosives. I'm still not quite sure how that happened, since everything I packed made it to India without an issue (I honestly think their little explosive-detecting machine was malfunctioning), but since three consecutive screens continued to show explosive residue, I got to have a lovely little chat with the Metropolitan Police - 4 of them, armed with what appeared to be machine guns. All of this took place in full view of every other Heathrow passenger trying to get through Terminal 3 security, and perhaps it's a bit more common in the UK, since people did not seem to be staring at our little group as much as I would have expected them to.

Apparently, I'm not too much of a threat, since they decided to let me on the plane to KL, but I now have an official incident report to keep as a memento of the great experience :)

On the plus side, KL is beautiful - everything is so green and leafy! It was drizzling this morning when we landed, but the weather has cleared and it ended up being a beautiful day!

Agra Fort

I honestly don't know where the time has gone. I have the best intentions of posting about our journeys, but the days seem to fly by!
The weekend we went to the Taj Mahal, we also stopped by to see the Agra Fort. The fort is known as Lal Qila, Fort Rouge and Red Fort of Agra. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from an Indian fort, but it definitely suprised me and surpassed my expectations!
The Agra Fort is the most important fort in India. Several great Mughal rulers lived here and the country was governed from here. It also contained the largest state treasury and mint. While the fort itself is a World Heritage site, 50,000 Indian Army troops are still in residence there. We didn't see any troops on our tour, so that should give you a good idea of how large this fort is!



















The main area of the fort was built over an 8 year period, ending in 1573. The main part of the fort is made of red sandstone. However, as the fort passed from ruling father to ruling son, changes were made. When Shah Jahan took up residence at the fort, he did not like the red sandstone and knocked down several buildings so that he could build new ones of white marble. Shah Jahan was quite a fan of white marble, as he was the ruler who built the Taj Mahal in memory of his wife.

We spent a good amount of time walking around the fort, and by the time we left, the heavy fog that covers Agra each morning in the "winter" had lifted, and we were able to truly enjoy the sites.

Native Dress

Today we wore our traditional Indian clothing to work. We went shopping this past weekend and each bought a salwar kameez. It was a great deal - the blouse, pants, and the dupatta (scarf) all for less than $20 USD! Everyone seemed to love it, and we got great reactions, especially from all the guys! Here is a quick shot of all the great women that we are working with.



I also tried on the saree that I bought in Mysore a few weeks ago. I got the "Western Saree," which means that the skirt came pre-stitched so that I don't have to worry about trying to pleat it and pin it myself. I'm not sure how frequently I'll get a chance to wear it, but it's so beautiful!

I know I've been negligent in blogging lately, but I promise I'll catch up soon. I'm off to Goa in the morning for a short weekend of relaxing by the ocean!

The Taj Mahal - Part 2

Our tour guide, Daniyel, was very patient with our crazy picture-taking. We later determined that between the three of us, we took about 700 pictures in the 24 hours that we were in Agra.

As we got closer to the monument itself, the beautiful inlay appeared more evident. From far away, the monument looks like it is made entirely of white marble. When you get closer however, you can see the intricate details and patterns in the inlay work. The overall pattern of the carving and inlay is a floral one, but around all the doors and archways, the inlay is of various verses of the Qur’an in an elaborate calligraphy script. The Qur’an verse inlay appears to be consistent in size, but the marble-workers had a very clear understanding of perception and the inlay that is farther away near the top of the monument is actually of a much larger size, so as to appear the same size when viewed.

The detail of all the work was really stunning. As I had mentioned in the previous posting, the building itself only took 8 years to construct, but it was all the embellishment and detail work that took the additional 14 years. The inlay is still in wonderful condition in many places; in some places, visitors have chipped out pieces of the semi-precious stones to take home as souvenirs. The British were actually blamed several times for removing items of value from the Taj Mahal and also the Agra Fort, which we visited on Sunday. I’m not sure how accurate that claim is, or if it is just leftover resentment from so many years of British occupation. There is a wide variety of the semi-precious gemstones that were used in the inlay work; among them are jasper, lapis, and carnelian.

The construction and overall layout was very symmetrical; even the interior of the monument had a symmetrical floorplan. When facing the monument, there is a mosque to the left, and a mirror image to the right. The mosque needed to face Mecca, but since there needed to be balance, an empty building was constructed to balance it out. The photo on the left shows the mosque; the one on the right shows the “mirror” building peeking out from behind the trees.

The trip to Agra went by far too quickly, but we definitely have some memories to last us a lifetime!

Up next – our trip to the Agra Fort!

The Taj Mahal - Part 1

By the time we arrived in Agra early Saturday afternoon, the haze and fogginess we had been experiencing since Delhi had finally lifted. We had been undecided about whether or not to go to the Taj Mahal on Saturday or Sunday morning, but since the sun had come out, we decided to visit the Taj Mahal then. We were definitely glad we had made that decision when we woke up on Sunday morning – the fog was so thick you couldn’t see things that were three feet away!

Our driver told us we had a complimentary tour guide (we still have no idea how or why), and he met us at the hotel and rode over to the Taj Mahal with us. Because of the delicate nature of the marble, cars are not allowed within 1 kilometer of the monument. Visitors must park and can get to the Taj Mahal by walking, taking an electric car, a horse and buggy, or our choice – a camel cart. After climbing down from the camel cart, we approached the gate, bought our tickets and entered. You’d never guess that this unassuming wall was hiding something so magnificent.

All the buildings that surround the Taj Mahal are made of red sandstone, and are pretty stunning in their own right. You’ll notice that there are 11 minarets on top of the Great Gate, which signifies that it took 22 years to complete the building. They added one minaret every two years until construction was complete. There were touches of marble inlay on the Great Gate – but they were nothing compared to the amount of inlay on the Taj Mahal itself. In fact, the inlay is why construction took so long. The building itself only took 8 years – all the decorative touches took another 14!

And when you walk through the archway in the Great Gate …

There are roving photographers all around the monument. They take your photo in a variety of poses and develop the pictures while you are touring. You can buy the photos you like for 100 rupees ($2) each. Of course, we eagerly participated in this slightly crazy photoshoot, and bought full albums from the photographer. I’m sure they count on the American tourists to meet their daily quotas – we’re a little souvenir crazy sometimes.

Below are the “action shots” as taken from our cameras – the professional pictures look much better, but I think these are too funny to not share!