#22 - See a Bison

The American Bison is a massive, awesome, beast of a beast. Seeing a herd of them up close is insane. The power in their stance is powerful. The rumble in their grunts is rumbly.

If they wouldn't have killed me I would have given em all a bear hug. Screw that. I would have given em a big ol bison hug.

Go to Wyoming. See a bison. It's perfect.

#18 - Visit a Hindu Temple at the Batu Caves

This post is of synch (I'm not still in Malaysia) but it's worth writing about.

The Batu Caves in Kuala Lumpur are epic. It's a sweet day trip from town - I took the tram to KL Sentral station for one ringgit (about 35 cents) then hopped on the regional train to the last stop just outside the city, mysteriously labeled..."Batu Caves."

I went with two rad girls from the hostel - Miles and Ali - and the whole day including food, drinks, and trains only cost a few Ringgit. We went to the entry temple where they were celebrating a festival, then hiked up the mountain steps to a recessed temple in the caves overlooking the city. It was epic. The rain just drizzled enough to bring the jungle on the hill to verdant life complete with bird calls and inquisitive monkeys.

The Batu Caves are a doable, affordable, rewarding day trip from KL. I recommend it for everyone.

#8 - Hold a Snake in a Kareoke Bar

Toddy’s Bar has a truly crap karaoke night, but I rocked up anyway, and not for the cheap booze or singing. Nope. I came for the snakes.

I had a python wrapped around my neck and attempted to sing White Snake, but didn’t quite make it on stage before the snake owner got pissed and took it away from me.

Still pretty sweet though. I never wore a snake in a bar before. I felt like Jake the Snake Roberts from the old school WWF. Man that guy ruled…

#6 - Go to Bat Country with Bogans

I don’t know when the conversation came up or how it happened, but I ended up exploring a bat cave with a few bogans (that’s an Australian redneck) just outside Alice Springs. It was a weird trip, the caves were hot as, we went looking for friggin bats, and I got super dirty from crawling around in all the tight spaces, but it was a definite first.

I’d never been to Bat Country before.

#4 - Ride a Camel...and then EAT it.

Wow. Ok.

I got back twenty minutes ago from my three-day tour to Uluru (Ayer’s Rock), Kata Tjuta, and King’s Canyon and I’m so pumped to write about it but I’ve got a dinner to go to and I want to post something asap. So here's another first:

I rode a camel.

It’s a rough ride (it hurt my nuts) and smell gnarly but it was a rad first. I recommend it, and Australia is a great place for it too, with over one million wild camels disbursed throughout the outback.

Afghani immigrants brought them over in the 19th century to help move goods through the great red center and the animals have obviously thrived, so much so that they’re routinely caught and butchered for their tasty, tasty meat. Which leads to my side note first:

Side note – 4.1 I ate camel meat.

We had camel sausages at night. My nuts are avenged. P.S. That's also Kangaroo on there. Word.