Downtown Kuala Lumpur has the aesthetic of Santa Monica Boulevard in West LA ("Build it! Build anything! Right now!") and the street life of Times Square.  Plus women veiled in black from head to toe, silently flitting by, their eye-slits sometimes covered by spectacles.

Last night, with two friends, I was the happy recipient of a foot massage.  Both feet were well taken care of in a storefront place that also sold tea sets -- and featured cheesy Chinese warrior films ("hi-YAHHH").  My feet slid back and forth in my sandals afterwards, and I could hardly walk down the crowded streets.

Today, I will take my feet and my laptop on a 36-hour journey to Los Angeles.  I am a package from now on.  I will try to follow the advice of a veteran traveler and take this trip without emotion.  I have plenty of bottled water but not enough battery power to work on my latest article.  So I may not make much progress, academic-wise, but I will be carried across many oceans.