Taxi cab rides are getting more normal now. The blue taxis are executive taxis and they charge more. The other colors are normal taxis. The normal taxis usually want to haggle with the price instead of running the meter even though it is illegal. That used to scare me but now it's no big deal. You just have to know how much it usually costs to drive that route.
Malaysian food is awesome. The above pic is a common shop in Malaysia. I finally stopped in to see what it was. They sell this flat meat that is a cross between beef jerkey and barbeque chicken. You can see it all stacked up behind the glass. The flavor is really good and I highly recommend it. I asked her what it is and she said something like "dee dee" although I'm not really sure I got that right.
Our favorite food spot is Thye Kong in the Pavilion food court. Food courts here have the best food (unlike the US). We got the Char Kway Teow which is really famous. It is Malaysian Cantonese and everyone in front of us in line was ordering it. We also got the fried prawn noodles, and a main course dish called Carrot Cake. It didn't look or taste like American carrot cake, and as far as we could tell didn't even have carrots. But it was heavenly.
So Andrew has really taken a liking to our hotel's housekeeper Corina. When she comes, Andrew gets so excited and follows her around the house jabbering while she makes our bed, cleans our bathrooms, etc. I always have to go in and make sure he's not getting in her way. She is from a region in Malaysia outside of the city.
Pool time.
More food adventures. This time we went to find this transplanted hawker stall food court that we had heard about from Dolly our real estate girl.
We found it!
We ordered Lammeeya which is also a Malaysian fusion from China. It was good but I wouldn't rave about it.
With all the amazing food here, Andrew is starving himself. He won't eat anything but the Macaroni and Cheese that we packed in his suitcase and white rice. And he usually refuses those also. He just is going through a major non-eating stage. I found some pretzel sticks here at a grocery store called Cold Storage that he will eat.
Trip to the Menara KL (aka the KL Tower).
You can take an elevator to the top and see all of KL. It was pretty cool but a little dingy.
We had to get special entrance because we had a big stroller.
Check out the workers' outfits.
Once up at the observation deck, we couldn't go two feet without someone wanting to smile, touch, or take pictures of the boys.
Here is the view from the top.
More attention paid to the boys.
Listening to the recording. They explained all the buildings on the skyline which was cool. Although I didn't get to listen much between keeping Andrew happy and occupied (which I accomplished by giving him books and milk) and fending off well-meaning onlookers that wanted to rub their hands all over Joseph's face.
Finally at stop 11 we got some peace and quiet to take some pics.
On the way out more people wanted to take pics of Joseph. She asked to hold him for the picture but I explained that my mom would happily hold him and join her in the picture. :)
A post of the KL Tower would not be complete without a pic of the awesome pineapple trash can.
After the tower, we discovered that your ticket admitted you to a little zoo. We took Andrew over. His favorite animals were the chipmunks. He couldn't care less about the snakes and the lizards since all they do it sit there.
After the zoo they had a pony ride. It was also free with the price of admission. I wasn't thinking I would take Andrew since he is only two, but the guys were so excited when they saw us coming. They kept saying "pony ride, pony ride!" So I put Andrew up just to take a picture and surprisingly he didn't freak out.
Andrew let them guide him around the parking lot (yes that is where the pony ride takes you).
By the end he really warmed up to the two guys and was having fun.
And lastly when they got back they put a cowboy hat on him. What an adventure.
We walked from the pony ride to the wilderness preserve which is on the KL Tower grounds. Here are more Joseph admirers.
Here we are ready to go into the nature park. Andrew was so tired of taking pictures and just wanted to pick up sticks.
They were building this cool little sanctuary on the grounds.
Okay, next adventure...Furniture World!
So I know we're going to need some new furniture when we move out here so I wanted to take a look at what Malaysia had to offer. Most of the stuff in the mall by our hotel was way too expensive (like higher than US prices) and not our style (super modern). So going off a tip from a cab driver I went to furniture world! It was out in the suburbs (Seri Petaling) off the highway.
It was quite the cornucopia of random taste. I also got stuck there because the cab that dropped me off said it was too out of the way to come pick me up. He told me to ask a shop owner to call me a cab when I was done shopping. However no shop owner could get a cab to come out either so finally one of the sales people put me in their car and took me to a taxi hub. It was so nice of him (and also a little scary at the same time). But I did make it home so that is good.
More food pictures. My mom and I wanted authentic Malay food (as opposed to the Cantonese, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Singaporian, and Vietnamese food that is so good here). A lady at the hotel recommended Sakura so we went there for a girls night out.
Satay is an authentic Malay appetizer and it is so good. It is skewers of chicken that you dip into a peanut sauce.
The restaurant is famous for its Nasi Lemak. Nasi Lemak is a really popular dish here. We of course had to try it. It wasn't my favorite dish.
On the way home we walked past Jalan Imbi and it had a ton of "hawker stalls" as they are called here in Malaysia. All these people were out sitting on fold out chairs eating and we wanted to join them so bad! Although we have been told to get used to the food first before you eat at any stalls.
So while house hunting we leave Andrew at home, but unfortunately have to bring Joseph since he will not take a bottle. So Saturday we dragged him from place to place. Here is just a sampling of what Joseph had to go through because of his crazy parents.
He gets so heavy so Mike tried to put him down every chance he could get.
Dolly took us to this cool restaurant for lunch called DELIcious. I had a salad! It was heavenly. I miss salads. Plus the decor was cool with an all white theme and hanging white birdcages.
I had to get a picture of Dolly and I. She is so fun.
And lastly, here are some pictures of our second week at church.
Here is how we get around--we have to call a "combi van." This one is taking us home from church.
Alright I hope you enjoy these pics. I stayed up way to late posting them but hey, it's now or never since we are so busy here.
