The Capital Gang

My sister, LoppyLou, and her boyfriend, Tex, have arrived from DC. They came fully prepared to face the challenges of life abroad with an international travel kit and a ridiculously large (and broken) combo alarm clock/pencil holder. I informed the duo that our friend Duri-Ann had booked us into a full body flesh eating fish spa for the following day. LoppyLou was even prepared for this!

Though jetlagged, the happy couple arose at the crack of dawn to tackle the canopy walk at FRIM (the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia).

We hiked up the mountain to the canopy. I warned the two to be on the lookout for leaches. They thought I was nuts.

The walkway is suspended 20 meters in the air. I informed LoppyLou of the many deaths and accidents that happen daily. This may have been an exaggeration.

LoppyLou was terrified.

Tex was fearless and consistently ready for a close up.

Nothing is too scary when you face life as a team!

Except this…on the way back down the hill LoppyLou got bitten by a leech! She was terrified for the second time of the day.

After the hike we raced back to KL to meet up with our friends to go to the fish spa. I hadn’t been kidding about this.

Tex and Mr. Happy stated this wasn’t the activity for them. But once we arrived things happened so fast they didn’t get a chance to back out.

The boys dip their toes.

LoppyLou was terrified for the third time in one day.

Eventually we all made it in the water.

The fish, which are imported from Turkey, bite away your dead skin with tiny teeth. It sort of feels like a little Hoover. It’s not painful…but also not too relaxing. The cold blooded blood suckers developed a taste for Mr. Happy’s vegetarian flesh.

After postponing lunch to become lunch, we finally grabbed a bite to eat. It was a big bite.

We had a Malaysian feast! Including the biggest roti I’d ever seen.

Tex stated he thought the roti tasted like frosted flakes. He was right!

Following our smorgasbord we headed off to an art gallery, dinner at Hakka, and a donut pit stop. It was a full day and Sunday starts at 5am. Off to bed!

Good night, KL!

[Ed. Note: Tex informed me that he in fact saw the BBC Planet Earth episode featuring the Gomantong Caves that I wrote about in my last post ‘Into the Wild’. He was forced to turn it off because it so disturbed and disgusted him. I lived it, reader, I lived it.]