1/29 - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Here now in the "muddy confluence" (that is the meaning of KL's name) and it's a frenetic smoggy place, and quite seedy in general. But so far my only basis for judgment is Chinatown, which is known to be the seediest part. We arrived today after a six-hour bus ride, on which several odd things happened and the cabin felt like a meat locker (in degrees) but which I think went fairly smoothly considering we never felt that our lives were in danger. More on Driver #2, who we picked up on the side of the highway in the middle of nowhere, when I have a few hours to update this thing properly. As Randy has noticed, sometimes I post without getting a chance to send out an update notification, so please feel free to check on it randomly to see if my location has changed.

We're leaving for the Cameron Highlands tomorrow, a former hill station of lush jungle, where the average temperature is around 65-70 degrees (Fahrenheit), and tea plantations carpet the hills. A big contrast to today's arrival temperature in KL of 35 degrees Celsius, which is just slightly under 100 Fahrenheit by my quick calculations.