Little Fish Nipping at my Toes...

My daughter is on October Break.  Of course, we had to take advantage and go on a little trip... to Malaysia.  And yes, I had fish nipping at my toes... actually all of my feet.

After a 10 1/2 hour bus ride through the night, we arrived in the Cameron Highlands, Malaysia... where we could see our breath!  Yes, we were in heaven.  (The first thing I did when we reached the hotel, of course, was trip over my daughter's bags.  Imagine me with a backpack 1/2 the size of me falling forward in slow motion as gravity pulled me harder than I could pull myself up... until I fell flat on the floor and could not get up because my bag was too heavy and all three of us were in a fit of giggles.)  We spent the next two days and nights checking out flower farms, strawberry farms, vegetable farms, tea plantations, strawberry farms, strawberry farms, strawberry farms... did I say strawberry farms?  There was strawberry everything everywhere!  It was kind of hilarious.  But on one of our tours we had the absolute, most delicious, best chocolate covered strawberries in the world... hands down.  Heaven again.

We also roamed markets, ate the sweetest grilled corn, and handled several crazy critters like stick insects, butterflies, and snakes.  We went on a jungle trek where we had an amazing and funny guide tell us about much of the jungle life.  Ahhhh... I loved the jungle.  Did you know there are over 500 kinds of pitcher plants in Malaysia?  We had to tell the guy the pitcher plant is our province's flower of course.

The views in the highlands were phenomenal.  We got up at 5:00 a.m. one morning to see the sunrise from one of the highest peaks in the area.  As it went from complete darkness to light, one jungle animal at a time would wake and start singing.  The roosters crowed right on time.  The song of the jungle was incredible.  The air was fresh and cool.  Our guide gave us tea.  And it was too hazy to see the sun rise!  The sky got bright - but no sun to be seen.  Didn't matter.  We were in heaven again anyway.

I did spend some time reading the local paper.  And I found out that the Malaysian government is going to give a gift to females - it is thinking of increasing maternity leave from 60 days to 90 days!  AND... from what I read it seems retired teachers will be able to replace female teachers on maternity leave.  What a gift.  Seeing all sides of the world makes me more grateful than ever for the opportunities I've had in life.

After a couple of days in cool, rural Malaysia, we bussed it to Kuala Lumpur (KL) - the capital.  I guess you could say it's the New York of Malaysia.  We climbed the over 300 steps to the Batu Caves, which were absolutely amazing.  Temples were inside and a ceremony was taking place.  There were three men going through some rituals and adorning a sword with scarves and flowers.  And there were drum and horn players.  Monkeys monkied around... and got a little agressive when Terry was trying too hard to take a photo.  Words can't really describe this place.  Yep.  Heaven.

Markets were everywhere in KL.  Terry managed to get invited to join a Chinese group eating durian... and he ate it... and he stank.  (Is stank a word?)  Durian is such a smelly fruit that there are signs around forbidding it in many places.  An authentic chinese market in Chinatown boasted pig's legs, chicken feet, and every organ and piece of animal and fish you can imagine. 

Just before we made our way home, we found a fabulous market with tons of shops and a pedicure place... with little fish that nibble the dead skin off your feet!  I convinced Terry to do it... wasn't successful in convincing my daughter.  WELL!  Tickle is an understatement!  We screamed and laughed and squealed and everyone around got a grand kick out of us.  10 minutes.  10 minutes of fish nibbling our feet.  Unbelievably, we lasted.  And our feet were kinda smooth too.

Some of you know I hate feet.  So putting my feet into a big tank of little black fish to eat at them was a true statement that I'm ready to face my fears.  Over the past week I've had two interviews with recruiters, who have set up interviews with two companies, which have taken place and were terrific.  I don't know if I'll make it to the next stage, but it is a confidence boost to be out there interviewing. 

I highly recommend fish nibbling at your toes.