Who says you need Starbucks?

Mark and I are having a dinner party on Friday, our very first since arriving in China. When speaking with our Spanish friends, this Friday was the only date that everyone could get together before leaving for the holidays. Edlin and Jose will be travelling back to the U.S for two months,and the Mexican with his family will be going back to the U.S in the middle of December while we will be leaving in approximately 3 weeks. Edlin and Jose are anxiously waiting to hear from his company whether they will be returning to China or staying in the U.S. hence the reason for the party.

Last night, Mark and I ventured out to Metro (China's equivalent of Costco) to purchase some of the necessary items when hosting a dinner party. Plates were the first thing that we needed, along with serving dishes. We managed to get the necessary items and then Mark found what he was looking for; a French press that will make 4 cups of coffee. Since we moved into our place we have been drinking instant coffee. Yes, that's right, since moving into our place we have only been drinking instant coffee. If anyone knows Mark, they know how he enjoys a good cup of coffee, so he is quite specific on what makes a good cup of coffee. We still have our Julius Meinl coffee that we purchased before leaving Chicago and the first thing Mark did when we returned from shopping was make us a great cup of coffee.

Coffee never tasted so good.

Winter?

Fresh off a trip from the heat of Malaysia, we landed in what almost felt like winter here in Xiamen.

Sunday night we got in around 23:30 and there was a chill in the air and a fog that had enveloped Xiamen. We've never seen a fog like this here, but we just chalked it up to the fact that we are never up this late...

The other day when I left for work it was chilly enough to make me think about bringing a jacket the next day. Yeah, it has dropped down to around 17C in the early mornings and evenings. It must be something about the temperature here as this time I'm noticing the cold, back home we would still be in shortsleeves at that temperature, and the time that I spent out in California I didn't really get cold in the winter and found it funny to see all the locals bundled up in their big winter jackets.

One thing that is different here is that that Chinese pretty much always live in the outside temperature, at work the windows are always open even though the workers are all bundled up in their jackets, and as we were told most apartments don't have heat. We even learnt that in the summer most places still leave the windows open, I especially had a hard time getting used to working at my computer in 30C+ with the high humidity. Even way back when we were looking at apartments we were told that the Chinese seldom use the air-conditioning and that it was only something that the westerners used...

I don't know where I'm going with all this other than I'm suddenly worried that I, and by that I mean we, may actually be cold when we return to the northern latitudes of North America, so go easy on us if we complain.

But we are looking forward to seeing some snow and actually getting a feel for the holidays. This cold makes you think fall, not Christmas.

Last Day in K.L

Our last day in Kuala Lumpur. What to do was the big question? Not because of boredom, just that time was limited. We needed to decide whether we wanted to go to the Pewter factory as recommended by a few friends, or pick up much needed supplies. Guess which won?

Off we tracked, to the Petronas Towers. They have 5 floors of shopping. You name it, the store was there. Gucci, Tods, Banana Republic, Chanel, and what we needed most; supermarkets and book stores. Yup, people travel to shop for clothing, souvenirs, shoes, we go for food, wine and books. We find the first supermarket and purchased most of our supplies. We could not however, find the cilantro nor black beans. Mark, the eagle eye spots the wine store where he discovers a plethora of Argentinean wines. The second supermarket didn't have anything we needed, black beans nor cilantro so we called it a day for food. Now we had to look for books and a cable for the Ipod. We couldn't find the cable at a reasonable price, but we did manage to find books and magazines that have been requested by our friends. Finding English literature is not easy here in China. We get to the hotel only to discover that they locked us out. Mark went downstairs to talk to the front desk. They reprogrammed the key, and we quickly packed our belongings before heading to the airport.

The next time we're on a plane will be for our annual trip back home for the holidays. Less than three weeks before we see everyone again.

Walking Kuala Lumpur..

Walking is what we did yesterday, we figure probably about 12 miles. And it was hot out, around 32, with no breeze and not a lot of shade, but we suffered through it....

First we walked up through the Indian street markets and over to the National Monument, which was designed by the same guy that did the Marine Corps War Memorial , the Iwo Jima monument, in the US.Malaysian National Monument

From there we wandered through one of their large parks, down through the Chinatown market and their rows and rows of knock off purses and watches. Where we finally decided that we had walked too much and just needed to take a taxi back to the hotel...

The taxis here are funny, as they all refuse to use their meter and instead charge a flat rate. I get stubborn and we climbed out of a few cabs this weekend after arguing with them over the fare and their insistence that either a) the meter is broken, or b) nobody uses the meter, you'll pay this much with any taxi. It's an odd thing to be bartering for a taxi ride.

From there we went to a nice rooftop bar to watch the sunset.

Sunset behind the Menara Tower

Sun setting on the Petronas Towers in the background

After the sunset we then out for a delicious Indian dinner, truly a great meal for our last night in KL. Then up to one of the bar streets for a drink before heading back to the hotel for an early night.

The Towers of KL

Kuala Lumpur is home to the Petronas Twin Towers and the Menara communications tower. We took a trip up to the top of the Menara tower which provides some excellent views of the city, and looks across to the Petronas towers.

Menara communications tower

Petronas Towers as viewed from the Menara tower

We were lucky in that it was a beautifully clear day and we were able to get some great pictures of the city.

Last night we wandered over to the Petronas towers, now only the third tallest in the world, and ate at a nice Malaysain restaurant in the tower. These towers are really something to behold and when lit up against the night sky are just amazing...

Petronas Twin Towers

Tina and the Towers

Towers against the night sky