Malaysia - intense...detraining!

After all the hard work, the holiday! We have caught up with Karen, who we hadn't seen in over a year. We have had a busy schedule of relaxing, a massage to untie all these competition knots, day and night markets and of course some sightseeing!

We are just back from Batu caves, a natural cave carved out into the mountain cliff and Hindu place of worship. There are some 250 steps to climb up to the caves. At the top there are several sculptures and temples dedicated to Hindu gods. Also the place is inhabited by wild monkeys. They come down from the hill tops to scavenge food from their big cousins and then scamper back up the cliff tops.

Food, lovely food! Malaysia being so culturally diverse, the food is just as eclectic and Karen is trying hard to make us try everything (that's impossible!). We've had Indian curries, Chinese dishes and Malay spices! English cooking will seem so dull!

We also went to mini Malaysia, a collection of houses built to original designs from each of the 14 states of Malaysia. Karen is from the state of Sabah, and its original design consists of a house on stilts and bamboo flooring. It's dark and cool inside compared to the stifling heat outside, and the stilts protect from flooding.

Next time we come to Malaysia we've agreed to go to Sabah, get into the jungle and go Urang Otan spotting!

We've also donned our gis and done a refresher crash course with Karen. The seed of Shodokan Malaysia has been planted!