Here's the Deal...

                                            Weekly Card Game with the Girls

So, many of you have wondered how I'm spending my time here in Malaysia now that I'm, ahem, retired (at least temporarily).  Well, to be quite honest with you, I'm not really sure I know the answer to that question either. I mean, I do stuff, kinda. I run errands, I go grocery shopping, I explore the city, I go to lunch or meet up for coffee or attend random social events through the American Association of Malaysia (AAM). We've gone to dinner parties and game nights at friend's houses. I've taken cooking classes, I've gone on walking tours, and I've even gotten a massage at the Blind Institute (I know, I didn't see that one coming either). With the endless amount of things to see and do here, the days just seems to magically fly by. At the end of the day I always find myself wondering where all the time went! I can honestly say that I haven't gotten bored yet, and I always look forward to waking up and seeing where the day is going to take me. One thing I know for sure though, is that Thursday's day is going to take me to the card table. A group of us get together each Thursday afternoon to play a fun little card game called Shanghai Rummy. We each take turns hosting the game at our respective home and always provide some sort of snack and specialty cocktail(s) for the big event. Not necessarily a game for high rollers, we play with 20 cent pieces. At the end of the game (and the end of the cocktails), someone is guaranteed to take home a money pot worth a whopping 3 or 4 ringgit (which at today's current conversion rates equates to $0.96 - $1.28. It's not much, but without being gainfully employed here, each of us expat wives have to do everything we can to try and bring home the turkey bacon (it's a Muslim country, remember) whenever possible. And it's a ruthless bunch, these Shanghai Rummy wives (or as we've lovingly dubbed ourselves, The Shanghai Rummy Fight Club - SRFC). We will fight tooth and nail for every little ringgit we can on that card table! Yes, it's a dirty job but someone's gotta do it.

A day in the life: 

Dinner Party at a Friend's House

"Cooking in the Jungle" Class

Bread Baking Class (My loaf is the one that's slightly deformed - woops)

Random man I took a picture of on China Town Tour

In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle...

                                                Canopy Walk in the Jungle

Will and I have always enjoyed getting up on a Saturday morning and hitting the nearby trail in our neighborhood (i.e. Trinity Trail in Ft. Worth, our own made up little walking route in the Heights, etc.). There's nothing like an early morning hike (and by "early" I mean 9:00...ok, 10:00, ok seriously, more like 10:30 am) to really get the blood pumping and to start the weekend off on a positive, pulse racing note. Unfortunately, the "trails" in this neighborhood are few and far between, and the sidewalks, well, the sidewalks are more like sideleaps really. They buckle, they bend, and most of the time there's just a huge chunk missing out of them all together. We've had to save each other from falling into the deep, dark pits of missing Malaysian pavement more than once. Anyway, with that being said, we decided to lace up the hiking boots and head "out of town" last weekend to a well-known jungle about 15 kilometers from the city. That's right folks, kilometers. I'm trying to get used to it too. A couple of wrong turns here and there and a few "lost satellite reception" and the dreaded "recalculating" announcements from our sometimes trusty GPS lady, we finally pulled into the FRIM parking lot (Forest Research Institute of Malaysia) to explore the 600 hectacres of tropical forest, full of flora and fauna not found anywhere in Texas. After fully hosing each other down with our precious imported Off Spray, we charged full steam ahead into the forest to see what this whole Malaysian Jungle experience was all about. And what an experience it was! After an intense 30-minute climb up, over, through, and around the steep nature "trail," we reached the highly anticipated Canopy Walkway, a fully enclosed rope and netting walkway suspended 30 meters off the ground that overlooks the city in the distance and the greenery of the forest underneath. What we didn't realize however, is how long the line was going to be just to get across this thing. Apparently it was field trip day for several of the local schools here, so we had to wait for a couple hundred teens from the Malaysian Boys and Girls Schools of Kuala Lumpur to try to overcome their obvious fear of heights and SLOWLY creep one by one across the gently swaying walkway before getting a go at it ourselves. After finally reaching it to the top, we were able to take in some incredible views and see what every nature lover in these parts would be remiss not to do at least once in this town....but maybe call ahead first and make sure there aren't any field trips planned that day! And in other jungle news, Will and I did see something that day that might have put an indefinite hold to my hiking days and left me forever scarred. I can't believe I'm actually going to type this word because I fear/loathe/fear/detest/fear these things so much, but it has to be said....a snake. Yuck, ooh, gross. I hate snakes. I hate them with a passion. And we saw the biggest one that either one of us have ever seen either in real life OR on tv. It was ridiculous. This thing put Anaconda to shame. Ok, so that's a big of an exaggeration, but this thing really was gigantic. I only saw the diameter of this thing as it slithered in a ravine nearby, but Will saw the entire thing from head to tail (or whatever the end of a snake is). He swears it was at least 10 feet long. He told me to "GET BACK" as calmly as he possibly could and while I stepped back and momentarily lost consciousness, he watched this thing slither away until he was a safe enough distance away for us to continue. 
I'm sure once the nightmares stop and I find some top-of-the-line-snake repellent/weaponry around here, I'll be able to make it back into the jungle one of these days, but right now I think I'll stick to the buckling sidewalks and take my chances with the gaping holes.

View from the Canopy Overlooking the City

"Hanging out" on the Walkway

The Line for the Canopy Walkway

Low Clearance

The school kids going for a dip

Living it Up Down Under

After 5 months of living in Malaysia, I was finally able to join Will on one of his recent work trips. Destination: Australia!! Some might find it rather suspicious that due to my domestic duties and regularly scheduled social engagements I like to refer to as "appointments" with fellow expat wives, I've somehow managed to miss out on his other work trips to places like Miri, Jakarta, and Vung Tau, but just as soon as his meeting was scheduled for Australia, my calendar of "appointments" and domestic "duties" suddenly cleared right up! Coincidence?? I think not. I had my ticket booked and my bags packed quicker than you can say, "Crikey!" So we boarded a plane for Brisbane, a 6 or 7 hour flight from here, and spent a fabulous, fun-filled 4 days on the east coast of Australia before heading to Perth for another 4. I'm not sure how fun-filled the days were for Will exactly because he was literally in meetings from sun-up to sun-down, but I think I was able to enjoy them enough for the both of us! I spent the days soaking up the sun in the city parks, strolling through the streets lined with cafes, pubs, and cute little shops, and trying to scope out what fun things Will and I could do each evening when he got "home" from the office. I took train rides to neighboring towns, watched ships drift in and out of ports, stopped at every kebab stand I passed for my daily dose of chicken shawarma, and tried on all of the cute winter clothes I knew I'd never buy. It's the end of fall/early winter in Australia, so the air was cool and crisp and CLEAN, a welcomed break from the air we're used to in KL (on all accounts)! To see people scurrying about in their scarves and sweaters and to see seasonal dishes like stews on most menus was definitely a  nice change of clothing, cuisine, and climate for us! It was an amazing 8 days full of delicious food, wonderful wine, perfect weather, and great accents! Australia was just such a fun, friendly, and happy place to visit for us, and I have been encouraging Will to schedule as many more meetings there as he possibly can!

Bridge in Brisbane

A pretty hotel in Perth (not ours, mind you)

Chicken Shawarma, Please!