Night Zoo

The other night I went to the most unique zoo I've ever been to. It was a night safari. The "zoo" opens at 7pm. We first went to a performance with some animals. They really got us involved! A large boa constrictor was carried directly in front of me! I got a video of it. :) during the show there was a wolf and hyena who were "free" of course they make sure it's safe for us, but it sure looked like they could just jump over to us.
After the show we went on a safari ride. We drove around the park seeing elephants, giraffes, more hyenas, lions, unique pigs, deer, and many other animals. It was all pretty dark so we couldn't really get pictures.
We even got to walk around the zoo. I liked this zoo because 1-it was night so it wasn't hot and 2- it was night so the animals were up and walking around. I would recommend doing this!!!

Picture: only one I got. It's the stage for the animal show.

Batu Caves

The Batu Caves is a popular travel designation in KL. Apparently even more popular on the holiday we were there for. It was an awesome opportunity to go to the caves on this holiday. We think that nearly every Hindu in KL and the surrounding area was probably there. It was crowded, but not the same as China crowded. We think because the people are bigger here, felt more crowded :) It was also extremely hot!

Some people (I don't know all the traditions of this holiday) fast for some days, then they pierce themselves in unique places. Most common through both cheeks. Some men carry large... Hmm... Not sure how to call them, just look at the pictures) up the mountain. Others (mostly men, some girl children too) shave their head and paint them orange. Hopefully you can understand it more by the pictures...

Picture 1: the mountain they climbed. It was packed full! We could not go up. Usually there is room.

Picture 2: the things some men carried.

Picture 3: can you see the girl's mouth? It has a piercing in. It goes all the way through to her other side. Sort of like a bull's piercing, but it's in the mouth.

China Town Quotes

The other night the three of us went to China Town. It's a place to go shopping for all the things you can get... Well, in China (not sure why we were there...) It was raining, so we didn't know how long we would stay since shopping while holding umbrellas is not much fun. The shop owners were having a slow night, so they were quite happy to see us. Here are some things we were told during the night. Enjoy!

I've been waiting for you! (Yup, you knew we were coming, huh?)

Ice, ice baby! (Referring to Ice watches)

I'm here! (Yeah... Like we were looking for him...)

I will give you a discount because it's my girlfriend's birthday today. (Yeah, it's probably every day...)

Buy this for your boyfriend! [one minute later after I didn't really take a second glance] ...For your ex-boyfriend!

(Man wearing a plastic bag hat to keep his head dry) "soo expensive... My top hat... Soo expensive!!"

"Long time no see!!" ( we've never seen them before...)

"Bag for you! Real genuine copy :)"

I bought a pair of shoes cause they had my size!! So exciting!

Picture: look at this shop... Does it need a caption? I think not!

Kuala Lumpur

Since I've been in Kuala Lumpur (KL) for a few days now, I figured it's time to tell you what I've been up to. I've been sweating... It's a bit hotter here than Sanya and much warmer than Wuhan!

One of the reasons I came here was because I met a nice couple last year on my boat trip in Vietnam. They are from here. I thought it would be cool to come and know someone in the area. Plus, they have a subway so I figured getting around would be ok too :) at about 8pm on the night I arrived, they picked me up for supper. As I was sitting I their back seat and they drove away, I was thinking... "Hope these people are ok..." They ended up being great!!!
They became my one night tour guides. We started out by having an amazing meal of Malaysian food. Afterwards he drove me to see some of the great "happening" places in KL. he stopped at the towers and Merdeka Square. I loved it because I could ask all my questions I had about life in Malaysia.

They took me back to my hostel at around 1 am. It was a great way to introduce KL to me!

Besides my little tour, I've also been to china town (see a future post on this), little India, a bird park, Batu Caves (another future post), and back to the Towers again. I've had some interesting experiences in this unique country! I'll share more with you later. :)

The pictures are of us walking off the plane when we arrived. Since it was raining we exited from the back and were given umbrellas!

Doesn't matter where...

Doesn't matter where
Right now I'm in Hainan, which is the province that's the furthest south you can get in china. I'm a 2 hour plane ride from wuhan, 4 or 5 from Harbin (which is where I was last weekend). I've noticed that it doesn't matter how big China is, these cities are all very similar.
They have the same Muslim noodles, the same small hole in the wall restaurants (which would be shut down in America for food sanitary reasons), the same shops spilling out onto the sidewalk from their little sections, the same fruit, vegetable, and street food sellers lining the streets welcoming the night crowd, the same bakeries with meat floss hiding inside their baked goods. They people are the same too. As soon as I stepped on the bus I heard the famous "waiguoren" ( foreigner ) the people at the stores welcomed my business and told me how good my Chinese is. A lady helped me out when she noticed the boss wasn't coming to collect my money. Friendly to foreigners (unless they can make an extra buck off you...)
I felt very comfortable walking these streets. Like I'm used to them. I was thinking to myself this morning "hmm... Tomorrow I'm going to a foreign country, little scared about that" then I laughed as I remembered that I'm in china... A foreign country!
China isn't all that foreign to me anymore. Still different, but not quite so foreign.

At the bottom I included a few pictures from Haikou. Not nearly as nice as Sanya.

Sanya Beaches

The first two days here were quite slow going and relaxing. We checked out the beach near our hostel the first day, then went to one a bit further away for day two. Day two also included a sunset. Not amazing, but it was nice.

Today we are going to a third beach and a forest park. Tomorrow I set out for a new location, leaving my four travel buddies behind...

The ice cream looking picture is some iced fruit. It's all fruit, a tiny bit sugar, and a little water. They "fry" it on a cold plate. Tastes amazing!!!

Made it!!

Hey faithful readers! I've made it to Sanya! Arriving here was much different than harbin. As I'm writing this, it's 11:15 am and I'm a bit warm.
We plan to just relax today by the beach an take in the warm sunshine and clean clean air!!! I'll post some pictures when I have the chance!