Brother Vonn's post

Here is something that my brother wrote on his Facebook acct. about the last few days here. I thought that it encapsulated things quite nicely. So, instead of writing my own post this time, I figured I would just post his words instead... also to give you the view of one of my fellow travel partners.

"Howdy Y'all! I'm now in Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia. Although, all the cool people call it KL so I'll refer to it as such from now on. When I last informed you all, I was in this city with a very long name that I have since forgotten. I remained there for another day or so. We went and checked out this temple that was well over 1000 years old. It was pretty cool. After that we went and saw this shadow puppet show. This guy is apparently the most well known shadow puppeteer in southern Thailand. He's even performed for the king. We took a tour through his museum and then watched a short play.

The next day, we, Amie, Dan and myself, parted ways from Jason and Kristy for a short while. We took a bus down to Hat Yai, a sort of border town. Our plan was to catch the 2:50 train to KL, having the bus arrive at the train station at 1:00. To our extreme disappointment and aggravation, our bus didn't take an hour to get to Hat Yai like it was supposed to, it was more like three. We couldn't buy tickets for beds on the train until the next day so we were stuck in Hat Yai for one night without anything to do. Alas, we wandered around for a bit and discovered this bar that it turns out Lonely Planet recommended for having live music. It was really cool to see a Thai band do covers of songs such as: Layla, Stairway to Heaven, and Hotel California, along with many others.

The next day, Amie and Dan went to the train station first thing to get some sleeper car tickets but they were all sold out! This meant that was had to go through a 17 hour train ride in slightly reclining seats. This however was not as bad as it could have been. The seat next to me remained empty the whole time and the train cleared out by the time we were getting tired so we each had a pair of seats to try and get comfortable in.

17 hours later, we were in KL. We decided to stay in the China Town here, which is a beehive of activity. There's other travelers all around as well as street vendors trying to peddle their wares. You can't go 2 steps without someone offering you watches, DVDs, bags, or clothes. Everyone calls me "friend" here. I've never felt so popular. Also, with the shops repeating every 20 feet or so, you don't need to bother going back to look at something that caught your eye. You just have to wait until the next "Official" Rolex store comes up. We walked around this city and it really is quite beautiful. The Mosques are gorgeous and the more modern buildings are interesting too. We checked out the Twin Towers and soaked in a movie in the mall at their base. They are breathtaking when they're lit up at night.

We've found this very nice Reggae bar. It's a chillin' atmosphere with friendly peoples. For instance, last night we were drinking with a corporal from the Australian army, a student from Bangladesh and the Bangladesh Ambassador's son. It was definitely a cool experience.

I believe that's all for now.
Y'all take care now, y'hear?!"