Indonesia and Malaysia

My sister came to visit me! We wanted to see our Exchange student who lived with us for a year so we journeyed to Indonesia to see her. On the way we had a lay over in Malaysia. We jumped on a bus and then the Metro to go see the twin towers (ironically this was on September 11th and it was a huge Muslim holiday in Malaysia and Indonesia). We had a great time in the city seeing the towers, eating in the mall (which is part of the towers), and then heading back to the airport to fly to Jakarta. 

                                 At the Mall they had great food and fun places to sit!

While we were with Sunny we got to stay at her house, meet her husband and son, and see what she now does. She works at Malls setting up stores before they open, so to the Mall we went. They also had a great restaurant we went to for lunch and a huge Lego display, I can't even imagine how many hours that would take to build.

I'm not sure this menu is big enough...what do you have to eat?

The three sisters :)



The Lego City



Wow...this take time and dedication

After visiting with Sunny and her family we had to leave and ended up sleeping in the Malaysian Airport. I can't say it was the best night of sleep I got. It is hard to relax with your arms clutching your luggage :) but I had oatmeal with me so when things opened up we got free hot water and made our breakfast with very tiny spoons. Only later did we realize they had regular sized ones we could have used.

oh tiny spoon

Out with the old and in with the new

To everything there is a season and time. Unfortunately this means things wear out and break. Sadly the day has come when my dearly beloved Chaco's have taken a hit. They have walked with me over hundreds of miles in Europe, Ireland, Central America, multiple states in America, and now South East Asia. But their time is coming to a close. I am trying to console my feet and tell them it will be ok with out my Chaco's but I am not doing well at convincing them. I didn't even have to break my feet in when I started wearing them...they have been good to me over the last 3 years. The good news is that I can send them in to get fixed, possibly for free! But that has to wait till I am State side again.

Black square is suppose to be attached :(

So with this new dilemma I need to have other shoes ready and broken in for when the Chaco's are finished. I have plans of wearing them until that day comes. So I went to the market to see what shoes I could find. The fun part about living here is that you can find fakes of almost anything. The sandals that caught my eye are "Dr. Martens", are they the real deal? Most likely not, but are they cute? Yes. Did I pay $5 for them? Yes.

The new shoes

I also woke up this morning to discover my running watch had blinked it's last digital number. This is not good timing as it is week 2 of training for the 1/2 Marathon I am running in December before I leave. It was strange running with no way of knowing how fast my miles were. So during my shoe hunt I also went to look for watches. In the market you can find more watches then what you think could be possible. I just needed something cheap and simple with the following features: stop watch, clock, light, alarm. And to my delight I found one cheaper then what I got my original Wal-Mart one. Plus it had all the features I wanted and I got to pick the color :) Is it real...who knows, but I like it a lot and for $4...I'm happy. Thank you Adidas ;)

Wal-Mart vs. Russian Market

While in the market I also was looking at some of the clothes and a Khmer lady saw me try something on and told me I looked beautiful (in Khmer). She then proceeded to ask what size pants I wore, which didn't matter because they use different sizes then in America. But she liked the dresses I was looking at and must have had someone in mind because she started having me try all the ones she liked on. Everything was "sah-aht" except for one of them, which she informed me was "aut Sah-aht" meaning not pretty. I think she bought two of the dresses, I smiled and was glad I could be her personal Barbie doll :) I forgot to ask the lady selling the dresses if I could get more off the dress I bought for helping her make the sale.

Khmer Massage

At the beginning of August I was working and visiting one of my friends in Siem Reap (we both work for the same organization). I found out she had a local place she goes for a massage. Now something you should know about my friend is I think secretly she is Dutch...she just doesn't know it. This girl knows how to find a deal, get a deal, and not spend money better then most people I know. I watch her bargain for Tuk Tuk rides and get the price she wants, usually lower then what most will pay. So it came as no surprise that she would find this Khmer massage place and request to be a VIP member so instead of paying $6 she would only have to pay $3 (which is also valid for one guest...guess who that got to be :))

I had not yet experienced this type of massage as I have stuck with the usual Western style massages when I have gone to help my aching body (have I mentioned there is NOTHING comfortable to sit on in this country! I will take the floor with a pillow over some of the furniture here). Needless to say, for the first few months here my body would ache at the end of the day. One of the nice things about living here is that getting a massage is much cheaper then getting one back home. So as I was staying with her and had heard about her being a VIP member we went for a massage one evening.

To start the experience we sat and drank tea. As we were chatting a guy came up and sat down and by the way the girls were acting we could tell he was someone important. His English was excellent and he dressed very well, but informed us he was a Tuk Tuk driver....yeah, right. I have never met a Tuk Tuk driver that well spoken or dressed. Neither of us believed him and I was getting the "sleazy guy" vibe from him. Sadly with our line of work we know what else can happen at these massage places and had a hunch this guy owned and ran this particular one. Next we were taken to nice chairs (that were actually comfortable) and they washed our feet and gave us clean flip flops to wear.

After climbing some stairs to reach the massage room we were given "pajama's" to change into. They were very comfortable fisherman pants, as they are called here, that are huge and would fit anyone. You tie the pants to fit you, which is nice. And then a button up shirt finished the ensemble. So my friend and I laid down on mattresses on the floor next to each other and waited for our massage to begin. The girls came in and began. I can't say it was a relaxing massage...but it was very interesting. Think of going to a Chiropractor, with some massage, and someone helping you do Yoga. Also the massage is one of the hardest massages I have ever had...I think my friend Netty needs to come and get one. So while I was laying there being twisted, cracked, and bent I was intrigued.  I'm not sure I felt the same relaxed feeling as my Western massage but you still aren't sure about moving when you are done...but for different reasons. The massage was kind of a work out for your body and I'm not sure if I want to get another one. But  I am glad I now know what a Khmer massage is all about, especially if I need something cracked in the future :)