Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur Continued

Before Cody had to head into the office on Monday to get things set up for the training, we visited the Batu Caves.
I think they may have been one of my favorite things we saw in Malaysia. They were incredible!
The Batu Caves are a 100 year old temple that feature idols and statues erected inside the main caves and around it.
Even the monkeys liked hanging around the temple. It felt like we were in a page from Jungle Book!
When Cody went off to work, Jade and I hit the swimming pool. For four hours. She did not want to get out! I was pretty content swimming and reading myself, so we stayed until Cody came back and found us to take us to dinner.
The next day Cody was training, so Jade and I took the Hop-On Hop-Off City Bus Tour. Hong Kong has something similar, and I quite like these type of tours. The bus stops at most of the major sites in the city, has an audio guide, and you can get on and off and tour around as much as you want for 24 hours.

The first stop we got off at was the National Museum.
I was trying to explain what this throne is to Jadyn.
As she is so familiar with princesses, I told her it is a seat for a princess (I don't know what type of royalty really sat in it). Of course she wanted to know if the princess was going to come sit in it. I told her no, she asked why, I told her it was her chair a long time ago, she asked why, I told her it was really old, she asked if the princess is really old, I told her no, the princess isn't here anymore, she asked why. Finally I tried to explain it in a succinct way that would get no more "whys." I told her something to the affect of the chair is really old and the princess died a long time ago so now the chair is on display and no one sits in it. So the rest of the day Jadyn talked about, asked about, and wanted me to tell her stories about the dead princess! Even when Cody got back she had to tell him about the dead princess.

This was a reproduction of an old Malaysian home. And that seems to be Jade's new favorite pose for pictures.

The next stop we got off at was the KL Tower.
It was lunch time so we tried to find the best place available. I gave Jade some options off the menu and she chose macaroni and cheese. Perfect. They literally brought macaroni noodles with grated cheese melted on top. Pretty sure it was microwaved. Jade still liked it and ate it all, so I'm not complaining. But I thought it was pretty disgusting.
At the top of the tower we were given headsets and small video screens with an audio guide of the city. Jade seemed pretty into it.
Can you believe this was a blue sky day? That is, it was blue above the brown smog. The two tall buildings below are the Petronas Twin Towers, just in case you didn't recognize them.
With our KL Tower tickets, we were also able to view a small animal park next to the tower. I thought the turtle (see picture below) they had was really cool; I had never seen one like it before. I think it was called an alligator turtle or something like that--and that is exactly what it looks like.
Jade was really excited about all the animals.


This is a shot from the bus of one of the Malaysian neighborhoods.
Visitors are not allowed in the National Palace, so we were only able to get a picture from the bus window.
A neat building across from the National Mosque.
The last stop we got off at was the National Mosque.
We had to wait outside until the tourist hours started.To enter the mosque I had to wear a full length robe with a hood.
As I was dressing, the Muslim lady at the entrance commented, "oh, how cute!" I turned expecting her to be gawking at Jadyn but she was actually gesturing toward my belly. I'm pretty certain this is the first time someone was referring to me and not Jade. Usually I get comments (from the all-too-honest Filipinas, Chinese, and Daaad) like "you are bigger today"; "all the sudden you POPPED out"; "wow, you are getting so big"; or "you're really showing!" I usually politely respond, "yes, I get bigger everyday," but I'm actually thinking to myself, "yes, I know, I'm huge and I sure love hearing it from people everyday too." Seriously. It is my favorite thing. So bless you, you dear sweet Muslim woman! I love you and your beautiful mosque!

We could peer into the main prayer hall within the mosque, but couldn't enter. They didn't seem to mind if we took pictures though.
As we were riding in a taxi on our way back to the hotel, I asked Jade, "What was your favorite part of the day?" She thought for a moment then said, "When I saw Mommy in the robe." I chuckled, "why?" Jade: "Because it was soooo PURPLE!"


Our last day in KL it was POURING rain. Which actually worked out fine because we felt like we had seen most of the sites already, so we planned for a day indoors. We spent the morning at the aquarium.

Then I made Jade come with me to fill a pregnancy craving for lunch. Din Tai Fung spicy shrimp and pork dumplings. The dumplings are delicious and the sauce is magic, I tell you. Magic. I could drink the stuff. Mmmmm. I love this picture.
In the afternoon I took my girl to see Kung Fu Panda 2 mostly because I wanted to see it, but I knew she wouldn't mind. As it turns out it was actually a really smart idea because tickets were SO much cheaper than movies in HK. Score!