Malaysia!

MALAYSIA
Part I
Kuala Lumpur

We started our Malaysian adventure in the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. When we arrived in KL it was late afternoon. We took an express train from the airport- which was clean and beautiful, into the central station. From there we took the monorail a few short stops to what is called the Golden Triangle area where our budget hotel, "8", was located. We followed the directions the hotel provided on their website and found the place. We were so intent on getting our heavy packs off our backs that we had tunnel vision until we were checked in and were able to figure out what we wanted to do first in the big city.

The hotel was nice enough- not as fancy as the website makes it out to be but still a nice place for the price and in a great area, Bukit Bintang, the Golden Triangle. The Golden Triangle area is where the Petronas Towers are located, some fancy shopping malls and theaters. If you check out the hotel website, I believe our room was the one featured. Check out the "doubles with bathroom attached" link. At least a couple of years have lapsed since they took that picture and some mildew invaded the windows and some spiders moved into the lofty ceilings. The room turned out to be just fine though. Air conditioning was a must and so we were happy in the end.

After getting settled, we realized that the sun was quickly setting and we were getting pretty hungry so we changed into our warm weather clothes, counted out some money, got our cameras ready and headed out. We were immediately impressed by the diversity in Kuala Lumpur. On the street in front of our hotel we saw women wearing hijabs- head scarves, saris and still others wearing shorts, t-shirts, jeans etc. The men were obviously of different ethnicities, Middle Eastern, Indian, Chinese and Malaysian. The diversity was also reflected in the shops and restaurants we passed on our way. We had so many choices we didn't know where to start!


Finally, while passing perfume oil shops like those I remember seeing and smelling in Egypt, and shops selling "designer" clothing we found a restaurant with a kebab stand outside and decided Arabic food would be the our perfect 1st meal in Malaysia. I was so excited about eating Arabic food that I ordered a sampler platter full of tabulie, hummus, babaganoush, olives, pita bread, grape leaves and pickled peppers and I savored every bite. Loren was drawn in by the tantalizing smell coming from the rotisserie and ordered a chicken schwarma. He knew from spending time with my family that he had to eat it with a Pepsi, so with out me even making a comment, he did so.



After dinner we strolled around, checking out the shops and restaurants by our hotel. The sky was getting heavy with rain clouds and beginning to fog over so we decided to stay close to our temporary home. As we turned a corner, we were immediately taken by a beautiful view of the famed Petronas Towers glowing in the mist and rising above the buildings framing our street. We couldn't resist and so spent about 10 minutes trying to get a perfect shot without tripods.

We were lucky we got our shots when we did because after that it started to rain and we figured we'd call it a night.

Our next day we were determined to see the Petronas towers first hand and to walk across the sky walk connecting the two towers so we set our alarm and were up by 6:30! We ate our free breakfast of fruit and toast and asked the hotel clerk how to get to the towers. He looked at us, all gung-ho and sadly told us that the towers were closed today but would be open tomorrow. It was 7:30 in the morning, on our first day and we didn't know what to do. He said most of the shops, etc. wouldn't be open until 10 or so but then he realized the the National Museum opens at 9am. We decided that would be a nice way to start our relationship with Malaysia and asked the clerk to get us a taxi.
He told us not to pay more than 15 ringgot for the fare and sent us on our way. The taxi drivers in KL are notorious for trying to rip off tourists. They almost never use their meters when asked and assess their fares based on how rich you look. We got into taxis many times and then got out again after the driver refused to lower his price. It was a hassle!
Our trip to the museum was worry free though and we arrived just as the doors were opening. We were the first guests. The museum was well laid out and started in the prehistoric times of Malaysia and took us all the way from Malaysia's conversion to Islam as their main religion, to Holland's colonization of Malaysia, to modern times. It was a nice introdction to Malaysia.

As we were getting ready to leave the museum, I noticed a group of young Malaysian ladies wearing brightly colored hijabs. They looked so beautiful and exotic that I had to take a picture.
I thought it was great when right after I took their picture, some of their other friends asked a group of young Malaysian guys if they could take their picture! One of the many wonderful things about Malaysia is the diversity. The people may all dress differently and have different religions, but they all speak and are Malaysian.

When we'd finished strolling through the museum, we wandered outside to see where we were. It turned out that we were close to the National Mosque. Loren had never seen a mosque and we were both very interested to learn more about the Islamic influence in Malaysia so we headed out. We passed many interesting buildings along the way.


One thing that I didn't even realize I missed about being in an Islamic country is the beautiful design and art work. Islamic design is full of intricate, geometric patterns. Even the Arabic script is beautiful how it slashes and loops around. In the mosque I was reminded of the beauty.
Before we were allowed to enter the mosque, we had to remove our shoes and put on purple robes to cover ourselves. If Loren had been wearing long pants, he could have gone in bare foot, no robe, no problem. I however, was wearing a skirt and showing some leg which is frowned upon.
We left the mosque and realized that we were right next to the Islamic Arts Museum and headed in. At this point we were incredibly enough not "museumed-out" yet. No pictures were allowed in the museum which was disappointing because of the beautiful art work and Mosque replicas that were on display. There was even a tapestry that had at one time covered the Kaaba standing about 2 feet away from me. It was incredible to imagine what the tapestry had seen, what it had felt as it draped and protected that epic site.

At this point, we'd been going since 7am with only toast, coffee and a couple pieces of fruit to sustain us. We were torn between checking out the other sites and finding some food. We peaked around a corner after leaving the museum to discover a bird sanctuary. The strange bird calls and sound of flapping wings almost beat out our hunger, but in the end we decided to head to "Little India" for some Indian food and shopping.

We were overwhelmed by Little India. There were so many different shops and people in Sari's and Bollywood movies being played and soundtracks being blasted from speakers that we were quickly disoriented. Weren't we in Malaysia? Not India?

It took us a little while to decide where to eat. Most of the restaurants looked maybe a little too local but we couldn't find any others so we decided on one that looked like it had a table open and had some vegetarian options available. We were very happy when the food came and scarfed it right down. It was delicious, and super cheep!

After we'd had our fill of India in Malaysia, we headed to the famed China Town markets. There were a lot of the same types of products to buy in Chinatown as we found in Beijing: knock-off purses, jeans, movies, and clothing. We were more prepared for this market than we were for our experience in Beijing and got right to the heart of bargaining when we found anything worth buying.

The experience quickly wore on us. It had been a long day! After Chinatown, we headed back to the hotel area for a nice dinner.


(Chinese Tea Shop with Malaysian flag.)
(Mosque in the same area. )
Our last day we set the alarm again for a 6am. We were determined to see the Petronas Towers! This time after the same breakfast of toast and coffee, we headed out to the towers and stood in line for a good 2 hours before we were given a time of 9:15 to enter the towers! I nearly fell back asleep in line just sitting there. It was worth it though. We were finally ushered into a waiting area with the history of the towers and the Petronas company then into a small theater where we were shown some propaganda about how great the Petronas company is and how well they treat their employees. It was strange when we were expecting to learn a little more about the construction of the towers etc.
Finally, we got on this small elevator with about 13 other people and were lifted to the walk way between the two towers. The views were beautiul and the experience was worth the wait.