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kl

Posting from Jeremy's girlfriend's place in Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. The flight was no big deal, just a bunch of drifting in and out of a semi-sleepy state.

A few first impressions of KL: it's an Asian melting pot of Chinese, Indian, Thai, Malay, Indonesian (and more) people. As a history buff, I was interested in learning about Malaysia's ancient past, but I was a wee bit disappointed. See, I was spoiled by Europe and all its millenia-old towns and ruins. KL, on the other hand, is quite young, about 150 years, so to appreciate it one must shift perspective. That's what travel is all about.

KL boasts the World's Tallest Buildings, the Petronas Towers. Check that one off the list... I'm having a heck of a time with the perspective shift, having always sought out authentic remnants of past civilizations in my travels and studies. Here I see skyscrapers, McDonald's, Starbucks (sheesh!), Nike, etc., and NOTHING OLD! But I continue to work on changing what I'm looking for, and appreciating what I'm seeing for what it is. The people here are very charming, and the street vendors aren't nearly as pushy as those of Turkey and Mexico.

Tomorrow we're headed to the east coast, to spend a few days at the beach/islands. I've heard there may be some scuba diving, as well as an eco-tourism program where you stay with indigenous families living in the jungle. Rest assured that the iBook won't be coming with me!