At 8:30am we all walked down the street for a delicious, vegetarian, Chinese breakfast. I must say, the breakfasts here are so much heavier than I'm used to! Rice and noodles with cooked vegetables and veggie meat are usually what I think of as lunch or dinner, but in Asia it seems they eat like a king for breakfast.
After breakfast we walked through the wet market and I almost lost my breakfast. A wet market is where they sell and kill all different kinds of animals. The animals are in all different states of life and death and I am embarrassed to say I was a little lightheaded going through the wet market. I cringed and grabbed on to the backpack in front of me as a man grabbed a chicken to drown. I'm glad we got to observe the wet market though because it is an experience I would never have at home.
From there we walked through china town to the oldest mosque in KL. Jenna and I had the best conversation with a Muslim woman called Normah. When I told her my grandma's name was Norma she replied, "mine is with an h" and smiled. She invited us to ask her any questions we might have about Islam and was very kind and gracious with our inquiries. The only time she became more reserved was when I asked what the difference was between Sunni's and Shiite Muslims. She quickly responded that there weren't really any important differences because they all believed in the same God. As we were leaving we told her our names and she called me Queen Victoria. She gave me a Koran and offered bottles of water to our entire group. She was so kind and hospitable and I really enjoyed talking with her.
We spent the subsequent hour walking through the central market looking at all the handmade trinkets. There was so much it was a little overwhelming.
We then walked to the train station and got off at Sentral station, the oldest train station in Malaysia
We walked to little India explored a bit, soaked up the sights and sounds and then sat in KFC to enjoy the air conditioning before lunch. We ate at a wonderful vegetarian restaurant. I was so impressed with how many vegetarian restaurants there were in little India and KL in general.
We continued our walking adventure after lunch in the rain. It was quite the thrill as we traversed through the wet city to the cultural museum. We were happy when we arrived safe and sound to learn about the Malay culture and history of Malaysia. I found that the museum was the perfect review for the final exam that we were preparing for the next day.
Dr. Perumal allowed us to call the day a little early so we could study and prepare for our final exam, oral presentations and final reflections the next day.
Around 7pm Jenna and I went out to grab a bite to eat. On the way back we found that all the street vendors had packed the street in front of our hotel and there was hardly any space to breathe, much less walk. The vendors were very pushy and in our face asking us to stop and buy their products. We felt uncomfortable and tried going around them but ended up getting a little lost in the sea of people. I was eventually able to regain my bearings and spotted our hotel entrance. I called to Jenna and as I did so the vendors started yelling "Jenna! Jenna come here!" We grabbed each other and ran, more like pushed, our way back to the hotel. We collapsed on our beds with nervous laughter and shallow breaths. We knew our lives weren't in any danger but we didn't want to go through that again.
That night we stayed up late practicing our presentations and helping each other study for our 10am test the next morning.
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