Ready, Aim, Fire(works)... Bulls Eye!

Camp WienerPohl started last week with a trip to Berjaya Times Square Mall. Now I've been to A LOT of malls since we arrived in KL. (Actually, today as Robin and I attempted to recall where we went to a certain Aeon store, we listed out NINE malls we'd been in before figuring out the one that had the Aeon.) Well, anyway, Berjaya Times Square is the largest mall I've been in to date - although Robin assures me Utama 1 is bigger. Berjaya Times Square even has an indoor amusement park with a giant roller coaster. Crazy. While waiting for the Miller Wieners to arrive, we had a delightful lunch at Papa Johns. This was one of those experiences that makes clear that it's really the people in the moment that move an event from the normal to the exceptional. The so sweet server invited us to watch our pizzas being made - cheering up a gloomy Tyler. Then after asking us where we are from she exclaimed, "You're from the United States! Papa Johns is from the United States also!!!" She invited us to meet "the boss man" who was in the middle of a business meeting about expanding the Papa franchise to other areas of KL. The whole darn meeting was equally as pumped to learn we were from the US and that there is a Papa John's not far from our home in Baltimore. The kids hugged everyone and kept saying "it tastes just like in the States." Loved it!

But the reason we came to Berjaya Times Square was not for Papa Johns or for visiting the World's Largest capsule vending machine - although both are pretty cool - we drove across town for archery. Yes, you got it, indoor archery. And the kids and I totally LOVED it. After suiting up with finger and arm guards, we received instruction on how to load, aim, and fire arrows at a target. Round one was good. But round two was AWESOME. Tyler hit a bull's eye with his first arrow. See below for photographic evidence. Violet's round two was down right exceptional. The instructor called over some of the staff to check it out. What a fun afternoon. We will be back there again (I'm keeping a lookout for a Groupon).

Violet's exceptional round 2 results.

A few days later, for A's 9th birthday, we went to Sunway Pyramid Water Park. Sunway Pyramid is another giant mall, this one complete with an indoor ice skating rink. Love this picture of us walking in our swim gear passed the ice skating rink. This water park is way bigger than the one in Ipoh, but lacks the visual beauty. We rode over and over on the speed racing and the funnel slides early in the day. Outside of the water area, there were some other, less exciting places to check out (including a Wild West area). Near closing, the kids took off as a group and were thrilled to ride the slides on their own for nearly an hour. To A: Happy, happy birthday. We are so fortunate to share so many exciting adventures with you. Thank you for sharing your special day with us! You are a great friend.

On Friday, Nicole and Isabel organized a swanky night out to Circus, a bar/restaurant/club. The group went out to hear a singer named Poova, whose jazzy soulful voice does a great Radiohead cover as well as her own original work. But I won't lie, I went for the drinks and food - which were excellent. Brian stayed with the kids. It's been tricky finding a sitter here. Most people just have their live-in housekeeper/nanny watch the kids. But what if you don't have a live-in? Can you ask other peoples' live-ins to sit your kids? Then do you then have to invite the other parents to go out, too? Tricky. I'm expecting when school starts, we can work out this essential life detail. Friday was also the eve of Merdeka Day, the day Malaysia became independent from Great Britain. Think USA Forth of July. Except all the parties and Malaysian fireworks are on the eve of the day. This was a bit confusing to us Americans who were seeking celebrations on actual Merdeka day evening, only to find post-party crews breaking down tents.

Fortunately, Malaysia is currently hosting an international fireworks competition, so on Merdeka day itself, we did happen to see fireworks. Based on Brian's excellent planning, we headed down to Putrajaya, a city about 30 minutes south of KL, that serves as the administrative capital for the Malaysian government. A planned city built about 10 years ago, Putrajaya's architecturally stunning buildings are set around a large man-made lake. The lake is filtered through an innovative wetlands infrastructure. We first checked out the Taman Wetlands (Wetlands Park). The highlight of the park is a lookout tower that is oddly positioned for a great view of a power plant outside of Putrajaya (???). The botanical gardens were beautiful; however, we entered after hours through a back gate and spent a good deal of the hour there confused about where to go. Once we were on track, the place is beautiful and deserves a return visit. The kids loved riding their scooters. Shout out to Marci, Andy, and Jake!

Later, the Pohl Garibaldi's were joined at dinner by Nicole, Modupe, and Toby. After an excellent meal at Awet Thai Garden -- wait... excellent except that this A Wet Thai promo video played in a loop on the TV screens around the floating restaurant... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Psk9tyX-Z_o . Okay, so after a delicious meal, we headed to a Putrajaya lake boat cruise to see the sites around Putrajaya and also see the Chinese team put on a fireworks display for the Malaysian International Fireworks Competition. As the Chinese invented fireworks, we arrived with high expectations. They did not disappoint. They did not quite reach the same number of explosions per second as the Cross 4th of July Fireworks extravaganza but they did have SIX floating barges that we could see (and probably more hidden in the background). That's right Gil, Pat, Laura and Josh - SIX floating barges. The most impressive part of the show was how they took advantage of the wide landscape to have three integrated stations with both low and high components at the same time. They did have more misfires than the Cross show (barge 1 in particular had some problems), although to their credit not a single barge burst into flames :)

Photo credit: Nicole (thank you!)

Departing the cruise, this trio played Guantanamera.
We were the only ones singing. Hmm.

On Sunday, to organize the kids' room, we did a Tesco run. Violet decided Sundays at Tesco
are better than "Sunday brunch" at Sam's Club in the States because here she sampled Crunch Bars and Milo.

So I've caught us up to today, Monday. As A and J's last day before school starts (Violet and Tyler start next week), we headed out to the National Zoo. I'm not going to hold back. This is a horrible, depressing place. The enclosures are small and dingy. Everything is filthy with stagnant water and a putrid smell. I was concerned about safety (when I'm concerned, you know it's bad!). Disgraceful. We did salvage the day by returning home for ice cream and swimming here at the apartment.

Colonel Sanders marks the trash cans at the zoo?

Well, that's another week of adventures in KL. I'll leave you with this sign advertising mechanical bull riding in the Berjaya Times Square amusement park. I'm guessing you don't do it NOLA style in KL.