Batu Caves & The Monkeys

Today I ventured into the Batu Caves! It was so awesome, way cooler than I was expecting, and I was expecting it to be pretty awesome. So it started out with me going to the train station. When I got there I had just missed a train so I had to wait about a half hour. I was kind of confused because my ticket said Sentul, even though I told them I wanted to go to the Batu Caves. When the train finally came I got on and tried to ask someone where to get off, so he looked at my ticket and told me he would tell me when. Once we got to the Sentul station he told me that was it. So I jumped off the train and it left. There was seriously no one at this station and it was in the middle of nowhere so I knew this wasn't right. I went up the stairs and asked the man at the ticket window and he told me I should have stayed on for three more stops. Oops. So I bought a new ticket, luckily they are like 30 cents US. But then the next train wasn't coming for 45 minutes so I just had to wait with nothing to do. The train finally came about 15 minutes late so all in all I waited about an hour.
When we started getting close I could already see the gigantic golden statue and I got so excited! Once we arrived I hopped off the train and tried to find my way to the entrance, and of course I took the most round about way possible, sometimes my navigation skills aren't the best. There were stray dogs everywhere, but I was kind of excited to see them because I haven't seen any dogs or cats for that matter since I've been here. Anyway it was a long walk but it was worth it. This place was amazing. So many cool buildings and statues and just everything. And I wasn't even up in the big main cave yet. I took a look at those stairs and I was instantly exhausted. I know I'm in shape but wow, that's a lot of stairs and they are so steep. So I started my way up the stairs, I only stopped once halfway up to catch my breath! But my calves were spasming from all the work. There were people sitting and some even laying down trying to find the energy to make it up the rest of the way.
Once I got inside I couldn't believe how pretty it was. There were statues placed in the walls and all sorts of other things. They had a little temple in there too where you could pay to be submersed in this bath, it was different prices depending on how much of yourself you wanted submersed, kind of weird. At the end of the cave there were more stairs heading up to another circular area that opened up to the sky, it was so cool looking. Even after seeing all this I was still feeling sad because I hadn't seen a single monkey! After I checked out everything there was to check out in the caves I headed back down the stairs. At the bottom I saw that there were more places to look at down the way a little. So I headed forward and was checking out this little waterfall when I looked to my left and notice a bunch of monkeys!!
I hurried down the walkway and bought a banana then headed towards the monkeys. At first I just stood back and watched them for a minute, there were so many of them everywhere. Finally I think they all started noticing what I had in my hand so they started getting closer. I saw the cute little monkey that I wanted to give the treat to so I walked over to him and held the banana out, he took it and sat right down to eat it! They aren't scared of people at all. Then I noticed this older looking monkey that had a whole bag of fruit in front of him. All of the other monkeys would try and take a piece out of it and he would growl at them. It was so funny, you could tell they were trying to plan a way to get a piece from him. But none of them ever succeeded. I could have sat there and watched them for hours, it's kind of weird how human-like they are.
After the monkeys I headed back to the train station to get home. What a fun day!

Weekend Update

It was a pretty easy going, relaxing weekend. The shows went great, we had huge crowds on Friday and Saturday and they were really into it so it was way fun. Saturday was also our singer Gabriella's birthday so we celebrated it Friday night and Saturday night. Friday night she got so drunk that by the last set Trina and I had to sing the whole set because Gabriella couldn't focus on anything ha ha. So that was an adventure. Then Saturday during the second set we had some crazy sound coming through the speakers and they sounded like they were going to explode so we had to stop and end the set like 15 minutes early to figure out what was wrong. I guess the little jazz band that plays in the lobby of the hotel next to ours was using the same frequency on their sound equipment so it was interfering, I can't believe it would interfere from that far away. So we got that fixed and the next set was fine but then by the last couple songs of the 4Th set it started doing it again but we just played through it and finished up. All in all a great weekend.
Then on Sunday I went and saw the movie Let Me In, it was pretty good but I just realized that they edit the movies here. Any time someone was about to get killed it like skipped ahead and just showed the aftermath, maybe that's how the movie was made but I'm pretty sure it wasn't so that kind of bugged me. Also at the mall they were having this thing called Teen Fest in one of the Expo centers on the top floor. I was wondering why the mall was so packed and that was the reason. It was like a huge carnival going on, and the line was so long to get in, it was crazy.
When I went to get on the train I ran into the same problem that I had a few weeks ago. It was so packed that I couldn't get on the first one, but the next one said it was coming in 10 minutes. So 10 minutes came and passed and still no train. Finally 45 minutes later a train shows up and I had to push and shove my way like everyone else just to get a spot to stand. I can't believe how many people can squish into one of these cars, I get a little claustrophobic in there. Once I got back I just relaxed in my room and went to bed early.

Plain Days

The last couple days have been pretty plain, not bad, just nothing too exciting. The shows were great on our part, the audiences just haven't really been into it. But we have been drawing much bigger crowds on Mondays through Wednesdays which is great. I think the word of our band is spreading and it's getting more and more people to come out and see us!
I realized something a few weeks ago, with the help of my mom, I'm used to performing for people that are just there to see the show so they always cheer and are really into it. But performing here in this club people are all there for their own reasons like visiting old friends, getting drunk, pickin' up chicks, whatever, so it is our job to draw them in and get them to watch us. Sometimes though, no matter how hard we try they just won't have it and I have to remember that as long as I'm doing my best that's all that matters!
Anyway yesterday I was supposed to have a little photo session with Trina, I guess she has to take pictures of all my outfits to put on the website just so they can keep track of what everyone has. But Trina never really plans anything, she just mentions it and then expects me to be available all day for whenever she's ready. So I did my usual thing, gym, breakfast/lunch, shower and then just watched some TV waiting for her call. Finally around 3:30 she called saying that she needed to use my computer to download photos onto her portable hard drive, but didn't mention the pictures. So I told her that's fine and waited for her to come down to my room. She came down like half an hour later, and while we were loading the pictures she mentioned something about the website not working right now or something so we weren't going to take the pictures today. I was fine with that because I didn't really want to anyway. She left my room around 4:30 and I went back to relaxing. Then when I was just about ready to head to dinner a couple hours later she calls me again. "Can we take your pictures for the website now?" Is this a joke? Why didn't we just do it when she was here before? Ahhh, that's so annoying to me. But of course being the nice accommodating guy that I am, I said sure. To top it off she didn't end up coming down to my room for like another half hour, I was about ready to call her and tell her that I was heading to dinner since she was taking so long. Finally she arrived, we took the pictures and that was that. I'm so glad to be done with that for now. But now she's going to have to come use my computer again to put the pictures on her hard drive so I'm just waiting for that next fun phone call!
Well I think that's about all the excitement for the last couple days. I have rehearsal now in about 20 minutes so we'll see how that goes. Wish me luck!

Newest Adventure

This past weekend was pretty great, the crowds were awesome, and the shows went great. Everyone was really friendly and I didn't have to avoid any drinks this weekend! But the smoke issue was still really bad. Hopefully I'll just get used to it, although I don't see that happening.
Sunday was also a great day, just completely relaxing. I woke up late, had some breakfast room service and then went to see a movie. I saw Megamind, the new animated one, I think it came out back home recently too, so I guess it just depends on the movie when it is released here. Anyway it was really funny and a good all around movie, so I highly recommend it! After the movie I just shopped around a little bit and then bought a few groceries and came back to the hotel. The rest of the night I just watched TV and lounged around, it was quite nice.
Last night, Monday, the shows went well but the audience was not responsive at all. There was a pretty good sized crowd but they just weren't into it except for like 5 people that cheered and danced a little bit. So not too exciting.
Then today I went on a new adventure! I tried to find these two shopping areas in this area called Ampang Park. I found the one shopping plaza, it was kinda scary, hardly any shops and what they did have was just crappy stuff that looked worn and used already. Then I tried to find the other shopping area but I couldn't, so basically I just wandered around the area and then ended up walking back towards the Petronas Towers and just went to the mall there. I made my first video about this adventure today and uploaded it to youtube, here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aJW7z1rXTSE so you guys can check it out and see what it's like here!

Great Week

As you can see I finally got the picture of us with Adam Lambert. Just had to ask ten times before I finally got it, but there's no way I wasn't getting a copy of that. It turned out great, and now I have proof that I actually did meet him!

This week has been good, but not too many exciting things have happened. I lost my Internet connection for almost a whole day, so that wasn't too fun. You don't realize how much you rely on that until it's gone. I guess the 90 day pass we got at the beginning was really only for 30 days so we all ran out and had to wait to get a new code the next day. I was feeling so stressed about it. But now it's back and I'm calm again.

The shows this week have been pretty awesome. Every night since Wednesday has been really crowded and the crowds have been so responsive to our shows. The only bad part is that last night, Friday, the smoke was so heavy in the club that my eyes were burning. It's never been that bad before. But I guess I can handle it as long as the crowds stay as great as they have been.

This week we also had a couple rehearsals and the first one was really intense. Our band leader sat us down to have a little meeting and to just remind us of some of the rules. But of course Trina didn't like being retold the rules because apparently she felt like they were all against her. So she started arguing and it turned into a big thing when all he was doing was giving us a reminder. After that we rehearsed 3 new songs for me and then I found out that one of the girl's songs was a duet so I had to learn it before rehearsal the next day. I wasn't worrying about it too much since everyone else always brings their lyric sheets to rehearsal even though were not supposed to, but somehow I learned it and remembered all the lyrics, I was quite surprised with myself. All in all I learned 5 new songs this week, definitely a busy week in that sense. And that about sums it up for now.

Fashion Show and More

So the last couple days have been pretty great! Monday I went and returned my costumes back to the store and ended up getting even more of a discount, so in the end I paid only 100 RM for my costume which is about 30 US. Wow! What a deal right? After that I tried to go up to the bridge in the towers again but then found out that they are closed to the public on Mondays! Dang, I'm going to have to try again because I definitely want to see up there. After that I went back to the mall that's at the base of the towers and shopped for awhile and did a little more sight seeing in the park behind it. I found a little water area where kids can play, some cool statues in the water and some more cool buildings. Then it started raining so I hurried back down to the train station to head back. The shows that night were pretty good, it was pretty crowded for a Monday so that was fun.
Then Tuesday I just chilled all day and relaxed. The crowd that night was bad. It wasn't that little but no one was cheering or anything, but we made it fun and had a good time on stage so all in all it was a great night!
Today was the best so far though. I decided to go shopping back at Bukit Bintang, the place where I had the hellish shopping day with the girls. Going on my own was ten times better.
I found so many great things, I could have shopped all day and I was only in one of the malls. In Bukit Bintang there are 4 malls all on the same road, so crazy. I ended up getting two new shirts, a new tie, and a new hat for about 200RM which is like 60 bucks! So awesome, I love getting cheap clothes! After that I wanted to go check out the newest mall in that area, it's called the Pavilion. So I walked down to it and noticed that it was extremely crowded. Little did I know they were having a fashion show in the mall today. I guess it's Malaysia's International Fashion Week this week. So being the curious person that I am, I squeezed my way to the front to see what was happening. Then out of no where some lady grabbed my arm and I thought I was in trouble! But she pulled me aside and told me they had a few extra tickets left and they were giving them out for free so of course I said yes! I got a little badge and got to go down and sit on the third row right behind these famous designers from Malaysia. I was on the third row! It was so cool, I mean who just gets to go to a fashion show? So I watched the show and had a great time and then grabbed all my stuff and headed back to the hotel. What an exciting day. The shows should be pretty great for the rest of the week, I guess there is a holiday on Friday called Deepavali, it's an Indian holiday so I'm told. I took a picture of one of the sand designs that are all over everywhere right now for the holiday. Well that's about it for now.

New Month

Wow, I can't believe it's already November! Well OK some points of the month went by kind of slow, but other times the month flew by. This past weekend was great, Friday was packed, Saturday was packed, and the shows were great. Our speakers blew out during the last set on Saturday so we had to finish with only our speakers on the stage that face towards us. But other than that it was a good time. Then Sunday I went and saw the movie Buried, it was great, a nice Halloweenish movie. And then I shopped a little. All in all it was a nice couple days.
So I thought in celebration of my one monthiversary of being here I would make a list of all the things I've learned so far.
1. Malaysia is awesome
2. Mosquito's here aren't as scary as they make them seem back home
3. The toilets here are weird
4. Diet coke is hard to find here
5. Diet Mtn. Dew is still no where to be found
6. The food is great at the hotel
7. Everything is pretty cheap
8. All the malls are GIGANTIC
9. Movies take forever to be released here
10. People think if you don't drink you aren't fun(kinda already knew that)
11. Women here think you are shy if you don't hit on them
12. There are certain cars on the trains that only women are allowed in
13. You can't take pictures everywhere you want
14. It's not scary to explore on your own, as long as you're smart
15. There is a CPK and Chilis here
16. The clothes here are awesome
17. Clothing sizes are much different here, I wear an XXL now
18. There are people from everywhere that live here
19. TV stations in the hotel suck
20. I miss Food Network like you wouldn't believe
21. If I leave my air conditioner on too high when I go to sleep I wake up with a sore throat
22. The maids can be very pesky at 8 am, when you go to bed at 4 am
23. It's weird relying on the computer for most of my socializing
24. At the same time I'm very thankful for skype
25. Sometimes it's nicer to do things for yourself, like laying a napkin on your own lap
26. I miss American accents
27. I'm always way over prepared, that's just who I am
28. I don't miss the snow one bit
29. It's weirdly nice to not be attached to my cell phone
30. People being allowed to smoke everywhere is crazy
31. I miss my pillows
32. If I never opened the curtains in my room I could literally sleep the whole day
33. Movie theaters only sell caramel corn, not just regular butter popcorn
34. Wiring money is way easier than I had anticipated
35. I miss driving
36. My legs get tired from all the walking I have to do to get anywhere
37. There are lizards by the pool at the hotel, how did they get to the 8Th floor? Still pondering.
38. Fashion is so far forward here, but so many other things are behind
39. I use all the matches every time they give me a new pack in my room, they're fun to play with
40. I miss everyone!!!!
Alright I think that's about it for now. I'm sure I'll think of more things as soon as I finish typing this, but that's a pretty big list. I hope everyone had a great Halloween!