Laine's Last Couple Days in Malaysia

Well, it has been a really fun three weeks with Laine here. As I write this, she's arriving in Seattle getting ready to start her freshman year of college at Seattle Pacific University. During her last couple of days, we went to Batu Caves which is a shrine with a huge statue and some pretty amazing limestone caverns. Van was lucky enough to get off of work a little early and we enjoyed having him with us. On Sunday night, we went to see the fireflies near the coast. I wish we had a photo for you, but we were rocking in a boat and it was dark. Without a tri-pod, we didn't have a prayer. Laine said we should just load one of the completely black photos onto the blog - ha. I expected them to be bigger, but it was like live "twinkle lights" in the trees along the river. Apparently, it's the kind of tree that attracts the fireflies. After seeing how muddy the river was, how much trash was floating in it, and then seeing one of our guides catching "river prawns." I'd say it's a safe bet I won't be eating any river prawns in the local restaurants any time soon. After Batu Caves and a good dinner, we took Laine up into the KL Tower. It's the fourth tallest tower in the world. It was beautiful at night and the KL Twin Towers were just as magnificent. After all our sightseeing, Laine drove us to the airport (about 45 minutes away from KL) and we saw her safely off. I must admit there were some tears saying good-bye, but I'm going to remember what she said to me..."Be Brave." I will have to be brave over the next couple of weeks because Van is leaving to go back to the States on business. I'll get to see how brave I really am, won't I? Stay tuned for exploits...

The boats we were in after dark looking at the fireflies along the river bank. This is the river they caught river prawns in. They are one of the largest prawns I've ever seen - as big as a salad plate!


This is one of the statues at Batu Caves. Van pointed this one out of hundreds of statues. I wonder what attracted him to this one specifically?


The view of the KL valley from the top of the Batu Cave stairs. There are 270 some stairs and they are numbered so you know how much further you have to go.


Van and Laine on the stairs happily together!


The main statue at the entrance to the Batu Caves. The statue is 140 something feet tall and is really impressive. You can see it from across the valley.




This is the KL Tower. It is easily seen from all over KL. It helps us find our way around town.


This is a photo (needed a tri-pod) of the KL Towers from the KL Tower. Now that's confusing, isn't it?




The flowers here are beautiful and incredible. I can't wait to buy some orchids for our home. A huge orchid plant is only about $5 US.