Savor the Moment.

Take a few Aussies and a Yank, a extremely hot day, an old Hindu temple and a HUGE golden statue and you'll get our day trip to the Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

The day started out innocently enough. I had my morning mango and was looking forward to bumming it at the hotel pool, but the boys had a different idea. We took the LRT train to the end of the line and then caught a bus with "Batu Caves" in the window.

Silly us. Apparently, the Batu Caves is also an area of town... Which the bus driver (who KNEW we were going to the temple) didn't happen to mention. He kicked us to the curb a MILE away from the actual caves and we ended up walking there in the hot sun. I felt like I was going to melt.

Walking there, we saw the mountain-side and a small golden statue soaring into the sky. But you don't realize that the "small" statue of Lord Murugan is actually 50 meters high (that's over 160 feet for you non-metric Americans out there.) That's HUGE.

It seemed like no matter what angle I took the photo from, the statue always looked so beautiful, regal and insanely cool. Quite frankly, the best part of the Batu Cave temple, is the statue outside.

There were about 300 steps up to the where the caves actually were... We ended up taking breaks on the way up - especially since the sun was beating down on us. Here's a great picture of Joel, Zuh and Alan resting on the steps, which were painted red and white.


I tried to walk in the shade, but my trusty umbrella did come in handy. Apparently, the Aussies call them brolly's, which does make sense. I thought I would learn a lot of Malay while in KL, but honestly, I've picked up a lot of slang from down under. For example, Joel had called me when we were trying to make plans... "I'll give you a bell when we're sorted." I paused for a moment, and checked with Karen. "He meant, I'll call you when we figure out what we're doing, right?" She laughed and nodded. If we're speaking the same language, why can't I understand them?

There were a lot of Monks at the temple... But this guy was cool. I think the picture speaks for itself. Monk + Video Camera = Riani smiling to herself.

Look at all those stairs, and the size of the statue. This picture was taken from the entrance to the compound, which was at least a 4 minute walk.

Zouh and I posing for Joel's camera. I don't know whose more comfortable with the camera. I mean, check out the look on his face. Zouh, you're a closet photo whore!

So if you're making it out here to Malaysia, the Batu Caves makes for a good afternoon trip. Check out the whole album below, and let me know what you think. Again, I'm sorry I'm so behind on posting. I don't have Internet access at the house I'm staying at, (shock, horror, gasp, I know) so it's going to be few and far between for awhile.

Batu Caves

It's amazing to me that people my age are starting to get married... And some of them are already having babies. Although I'm in no rush, it's always a great feeling when you get to witness two people in love giving themselves to each other. James and Gayatri are two wonderful people who I had the honor to watch tie the knot - and it was great making new friends while catching up with old ones!

Here are some wonderful random shots from the wedding that I thought I would share with you!

Gayatri's rings... They were gorgeous, and James did a great job picking them out. James told me that after he bought the rings, he kept them in his pocket for a month, waiting for the perfect time to ask her (since planned engagements have been "done to death", he wanted to leave it to chance.) Finally, after watching a movie (Monster in Law, interestingly enough) Gayatri said to James at dinner, "You could NEVER surprise me." In which case, he took out the ring, open the box and put it on the table and said "How about now?"




The wedding was held at KL tower, which had awesome views. Those extremely tall buildings to the left are the Petronas Towers, which used to be the tallest in the world. (FYI they were the cool towers in the movie Entrapment.

So after the wedding, a large group of us went partying... Leaving the bride and the groom and two of the photographers in their hotel suite. (What on earth was that about. Hee hee hee...) All I remember is that I left with a pack of ridiculously beautiful woman, and strutting down heritage row with Beauty Queens and MTV VJ's. We had a BLAST.








In the end, the thing I remembered most about the wedding was the great mixture of people. Friends and family flew from around the globe to attend the wedding, and between the lunches, dinners, afternoons at the pool and shopping trips before and after the wedding, I met a lot of fantastic people I now am proud to call me friends.

Thank you to both Gayatri and James, for setting a fantastic venue for embracing diversity. Being of mixed race myself, it really touched me to see you guys tie the knot.

Being an international school brat, I've collected great friends throughout the years from all corners of the globe. One of my closest friends is a funny Australian guy with an easy smile and laid back attitude. In high-school, he'd walk my sister and I home after class, invite me over for pig-out eating sessions and have Karen and I laughing hysterically at his dry wit and great sense of humor.

Even after he left for Kuwait, and I to the United States, we were able to keep in contact through e-mails, letters and phone calls. Eight years have passed since those long conversations on my porch, but somehow I always knew I would see him again.

Back in August, Joel casually mentioned that his best friend was getting married in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I jumped at the chance to see him, and made arrangements to return to Asia. (This is before I quit my job and became a professional jet-setter.) I never thought that those two weeks would lead me to meeting new awesome friends while catching up with a slew of old ones. I'll remember the late night treks to the hawker stalls for food, the mango mornings, the shopping trips, the disastrously funny nights out, everything.

Anyway, here's a couple of great photos of Joel and I from the trip. Mr. Staples is the most photogenic man I know, which is ironic since he's studying to be a photographer. But now at least I have current photos, instead of ones from when we were 14. (Unfortunately, he still wears those stupid shorts - although he's starting to branch out into *gasp* trousers!)

More from Malaysia... miss you all!

Riani

PS. I'll be blogging about my adventures in the next couple of days, I've been under the radar because I wanted to enjoy the company of those around me. I'll try to catch up now, so thanks for your patience.



Joel and I hanging out together at the cocktail hour a couple days before the wedding. The dress is from redrummurder, and I love it. I've developed quite a dress fetish in the last couple of weeks, and the collection keeps growing!


Joel and I out with the wedding party for dinner at some steakhouse. I had yummy lamb, while Joel had fish... The dinner was outside (which alarmed me at first) but I think I'm finally getting used to the heat here.


Here's another dress that I acquired from Eclipse, which I thought was amazing. Joel, Karen and I went out to Alexis for dinner and had an amazing time. I highly recommend the restaurant for its great ambiance and excellent food.

I'm really sorry that it's been awhile to since I've written... Let me (try to) recap my first few weeks here in Kuala Lumpur.

I arrived to insane heat that hit me like a brick, coupled with humidity that makes my London Lioness hair look like a night out on Hollywood. But it was great to not wear a coat, eat yummy Malay food and hang out with friends. I'm trying not to look back and enjoy my time in Asia, my stomping grounds.

Since I love lists, I thought I would post some of my first observations of "home"...

• I missed Teh Tarik (yum hot tea with condensed milk) and Roti Cenai (hot flaky flatbread smothered in butter and served with curry.) I'm eating it everyday.
  
• My money went from being worth 1/2 as much to 3 times as much, yay!
• Fresh fruit baby - lots of mango, banana and papaya every morning.
• Early morning mosque prayers blasting through the speakers, damn I missed that.
• Insane drivers, but awesome better-than-Seattle roads.
• I'm still squinting, WITH my sunglasses on.
• I'm developing a tan without even trying. Thank god.