I wish I was headed for that adventure today, too. (Gene’s new client is Uncle Sam, though, so no chance of Exotic Foreign Travel unless the Eff Dee Eigh opens a branch in the Far East). The entire two weeks – crazy taxi drivers, milky oatmeal, fish pedicures (!), strange TV channels, and feeling like I was the only American in the whole city – are wall to wall memories. When I’m feeling down, when I need a break, when I feel like my life has gone nowhere, I go to those two weeks. They are my happy place.

Whenever we discuss moving away from Cheesecake City, my first thought is, “Can the dogs come, too?” (actually, it’s “If the dogs can’t come, I’m staying here”) but when I dreamed this one up, I didn’t actually remember owning dogs until I walked back into the bedroom and…huh. Dogs. I wonder if year round 90 degree climate would be good for Scooby’s allergies?

(Well, OK, I do… but I suspect that Gwen and D would shoot me before letting me rock a 2 week vacation again, less than a year after the last one).

(Mmm…just the thought of prancing around the Marriott Renaissance KL for two weeks, hanging out at the pool, going shopping, reading, writing and relaxing…OMG).

(This time I’d DEFINITELY go on the hop on/hop off bus, see the Bantu Caves and the Butterfly Whatchamacalits and eat some more authentic Malaysia food and I would make darn sure that we go to Singapore and I’d finally get to drink an authentic Singapore Sling at the Long Bar at the Raffles…)

(And OH, the pedicures and massages I would get!…)

That said, why did I just eat the two entree meal from Panda Express and like it more than any of the Asian food I had in actual Asia?

Sorry, food snobs.

OMG OMG OMG.

One of the Americans who went to KL with us is in Thailand right now on vacation. Gene said that one of his co-workers has heard from her and she’s reported to be safe. The kicker is that her flight has a layover in freaking Mumbai, India. (If you don’t have time to read the articles I’ve linked to – you should read them, lazy jerk – the gist is that rebels or something have taken over the Bangkok airport and 78 are dead in Mumbai after rebels or something have started attacking five star hotels).

I keep rewriting this paragraph – started this post two days ago. I keep thinking, what if all of this crap had happened in Malaysia while I was there? What would I have done if there were murderers running around the Renaissance in KL looking for Americans? It’s all just too scary.

Why, oh, WHY did I not think of that when I was packing for my trip? I could have packed a cheesecake. Maybe next time.

(Actually, I bet that security would have really wrestled me to the ground if I was packing baked goods… did I already mention how upset they were at my closed, full can of Diet Coke?)

Seriously, it was cuh-ray-zee how many people drove minibikes around KL. Dozens of them sometimes would crowd around intersections or weave in between cars and taxis, even on the highways. Impressively, they almost always wore helmets.

Here I am on the skybridge between the Petronas Twin Towers. Petronas (an oil company) lets around 1500 people go on the skybridge 6 days a week (no Mondays). I had to be in line by 8:30-ish that morning to ensure I got a ticket, but I hear that if you want a ticket on the weekend you’d better be in line way earlier. The Skybridge is on the 41st and 42nd floors. The tourguide said that the skybridge moves approximately 10 cm but the top floor (or maybe the spires, not sure) of each tower shifts approximately 70 cm. I don’t know how much that is, but it sounds like a lot. Regardless, the view from the 41st floor was amazing.

(For the record, it was impossible to get a picture of both towers from ground level, so my pictures of both towers are actually taken from our hotel room window in KL)