I started my trip flying about 24 hours (Seattle to Kuala Lumpur via Doha) and meeting Sheila in the city. She had been in Malaysia for a few weeks, first volunteering on a project restoring a coral reef on Pom Pom Island with Tracc – scuba diving to glue coral to reefs, identifying fish, watching as baby sea turtles hatched, and sleeping in a (non air-conditioned) tent. Then she came to KL and met up with a Williams friend, Ora. Ora loved fine dining and shopping, so Sheila had been having a different trip so far.
We had a few days to kill in KL for Sheila to recover from her trip and me to recover from jet lag and get used to the humidity. On the day after I arrived we went to the Kuala Lumpur Bird Park. Lots of birds! And a few monkeys.
The birds were so close I sometimes had trouble getting pictures with my zoom (like the peacock displaying) – Sheila described the call of the Domesticated Photographer: “I have the wrong lens!”
Next day Sheila went to the Islamic Art Museum and I puttered in my room with a slightly queasy stomach (that fortunately got better). We had a nice lunch, did a little shopping (the mall across from our hotel is filled with luxury brands and goes up 10 floors, but had some good shoe stores, so I finally got my new sandals), and relaxed in our hotel room and packed.
