Calgary, LA, Hong Kong... Malaysia!

Just arrived to Malaysia - We took Air Asia from Hong Kong, a few hours ago, and now here we are in Kuala Lumpur! First impressions are great- there are trees everywhere. We found a hostel/guest house in the Goldon Triangle, and we could see the Patronas Twin Towers on our way over here (public, air conditioned buses, not too shabby!) The neighbourhood seems to be relatively quiet, lots of exploring to be done.

Now, stepping back in time a few days...

We actually spent most of Monday in the Calgary airport! Our plane to Vancouver had some mechanical issues, so we all had to get off the plane after we had boarded. What was supposed to be a trip that started at 12:20pm, ended up having a starting time of 7pm, to LA instead of Vancouver. Our flight to Hong Kong (Cathay Pacific - amazing!) was 14.5 hours, and we arrived into HK around 5am. The airport was the biggest I had ever seen, just huge, and it's actually on it's own island. We quickly jumped in a taxi, and found a place to stay. We stayed in Tsim Sha Tsui, an area of Kowloon. The guest house was on the 12th floor of this building, and after waking up one of the staff at 6:30am, we were given a room with no windows. We went out for a few hours, and when we got back, they had switched us to a room, right on the corner of the building! Let me tell you, it seemed pretty amazing after the first room!

Hong Kong was incredible. Loved it. Turned out it was National Day (October 1st - and it was the 60th Anniversary, celebrating its Communist rule) while we were there, so it was even more busy than normal. On Thursday, we walked outside our hostel, and saw thousands and thousands of people on the streets - they had shut down all of the roads to vehicles. Everyone seemed to be walking in one direction, so we joined in. Overlooking Victoria Harbour, we saw the most amazing fireworks show complete with "the world's most impressive" skyline in the background! Complete with hearts, x's and o's, butterflys, and smiley faces, they sure know how to do fireworks right! With tight security everywhere, we weren't quite sure about the rules surrounding the beers we had just purchased from 7-Eleven (yes, they are everywhere!!) But EMS told us we were good to go, so we cracked them open on the boardwalk. I'm pretty sure a child screamed "WOW" to every single firework that went off, it was pretty cute!

The rest of our time in Hong Kong was great, with perfect weather. We spent one day over on Hong Kong Island, which had a completely different feel. We took the Star Ferry across the harbour ($0.35 or something like that) and then got lost for a good hour between Central and Hong Kong Station, looking for the Peak! Finally, we found our way to the Peak Tram, and once at the top, with crystal clear skies, we were able to see all of Hong Kong. We then visited the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens, just up the hill from the Peak. Admission was free, and there was a mammals section. A sign also noted that a jaguar was housed in the park. After seeing orangutangs, lemurs, and racoons (!) we still hadn't found the jaguar. After much searching, we decided to ask the educational centre. Walking in the front door, we found the cat - stuffed! Turned out it had passed away in June, 2008. Side note - This was probably the hottest day of my life, Hong Kong island is not flat!

Yesterday we went over to Lantau Island. Took the gondola to see the Tian Tan - Big Buddha (the world's largest outdoor, sitting, bronze buddha!) Once there, we also visited the Po Lin Monestary, and the Wisdom Path. Got back to the MTR (subway equivalent) via another local public air conditioned bus, and discovered the giant skyscraper there was actually a five story outlet mall. A lot of the buildings have a way of surprising you, and turning out to be malls when you never expect it!

Anyways, there was a ton going on in Hong Kong, I could go on forever! But here we are in Kuala Lumpur now, not one bit sure of where we will be going next!

Chat soon!