K L City sights - Blogabond

Kuala Lumpur, or rather 'Muddy Convergence' as the name translates, is actually a rather awesome little city. We flew into the airport and went straight outside after picking up our bags with no pesky customs to slow us down for once as we were still on Malaysian soil. We hopped on the sky monorail, one of the many different modes of transport available to get around the city, and immediately took the wrong turn to our hostel, ending up a long way away dragging our heavy bags with our poor legs still aching from Mount Kinabalu – not a good start! When we eventually arrived at our hostel we were greeted with the most chilled out cat on the planet, and the relaxed mood was luckily contagious...

The Chow Kit night market was right outside our hostel, so we ventured out to see what they had to offer. We were surprised at how safe the city felt. After spending some time laughing at the various 'genuine' Ray Bans and Nikes for sale, the Indian eateries were too much for Sup to resist and we stopped for a giant mountain of Roti Canais before heading off home.

A very early start the next day led us to another trip on the monorail and our destination was the famous Petronas Towers, a must-see landmark in Kuala Lumpur, the headquarters for the mighty Petronas empire, and subsequently a great source of National pride. The recommended early start became clear when we joined a queue of hundreds of people waiting for the distribution of free tickets, but the wait wasn't toooo long, and by the time our turn came, our eyes had become fully accustomed to the daylight.(!)

The Petronas Twin Towers tour began with a promotional video in a mini theatre explaining the influence of the Petronas petrol and gas company both in Malaysia and internationally (you may recognise these guys from somewhere?...!) and listed the various good causes they were involved with, as well as providing information about the design and creation of the impressive towers. During our time in Malaysia we learned that the country is moving forward with determination and real spirit, and the iconic Petronas Towers are seen to be a nationwide symbol for the Malaysian people's growing power and ambition to compete with global players, as well as a monument to their continuing success.

From the theatre we were guided in a small group to a lift that transported us from level 1 to 42 in a matter of seconds and we were allowed free reign to admire the panoramic views from the skybridge. The building is really something. 88 steel-clad storeys reaching a height of about 450 metres, designed by an Argentinian architect with Islamic influence in the tower's 5 tiers, representing the 5 pillars of Islam. (See, I do listen sometimes in class!)

After playing around for a while and getting some good shots of the city below us, we made our way back down into the puzzle room, where we ended up staying a little longer than intended.

Sup was completely flummoxed over one of the mind boggling puzzles ( I was having nothing to do with something that required so much brain power) and spent a good half hour pondering patterns, refusing to give up, until a guy working at the towers came over and put him out of his misery by revealing the secret combination. Once the guy had walked away, Sup decided he would now be able to do it himself, and lets just say a lot more time passed before I finally managed to drag him out back into the sunshine to admire the fountains and courtyard in front of the towers.

Lunch was in the food court of the nearby mall, Suria KLCC, a mammoth shopping mecca where we spent quite a bit of the day due to an impulsive almighty thunderstorm and torrential downpour. No problem for us – more window shopping for me, and more yummy food for Sup! We decided to top up our laksa and chicken biryani lunch a bit later by sharing a snack size pepperoni pizza in the food court as the western culinary temptation was just too much to resist! We then admired the view outside as we waited for the weather to start behaving itself.

As always, we had to be thinking and planning one step ahead which led us on a big mission to locate bus tickets for our onward travel to the Cameron Highlands for the following day. This involved much travel, a lot of questions to locals, blank expressions, wild gesturing, and a bit of a headache until we tracked down the required bus station – miles from the original that was apparently being renovated. Within the giant marquee there were about a hundred independent stalls and we managed to locate a trustworthy private company among the barrage of touts trying to bully us into submission (no chance!), buy our tickets and escape unscathed to enjoy the rest of our stay in Kuala Lumpur in peace.

The night market in Little India was a great place to end our KL experience. After Sup's puzzle saga at the towers, I took my revenge by dragging him to a total of 8 make up stalls on the hunt for blue and green metallic eye shadows. To my surprise and delight, he turned out to be quite the shopping partner and we found exactly what we were looking for, with lots of yummy Indian treats as a reward, including more of Sup's favourite Roti Canai, and some delicious authentic samosas. The walk back home later that night took us past the Petronas Towers once more, with the added bonus of the Kuala Lumpur tower, both glowing proudly as they pierced the night sky.

Our time in the Malaysian city of Kuala Lumpur was fantastic – again, like Singapore, the fusion of Asian culture and Western influence made for a great combination. It was also fantastic to learn of the real drive for success evident in the Malay culture, and to experience so many cultures existing so peacefully together as we only wish could be the case worldwide. There are many places that could learn a lot from the modern '1 Malaysia' ethos and its 8 values of Acceptance, Perseverance, Education, Integrity, Meritocracy, Humility, Loyalty and Culture of Excellence.

Thirsty for more, we continued on in search of the famous and wonderful tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands, along with some cool and fresh highland air...

written by

SupandNic on August 2, 2010 from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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You two are so awesome and brave. I can't believe the stuff you have tried and acheived...You have no fear whatsoever..totally tenacious....This trip must have changed your lives entirely..

Do you think when you come home you will find this uptight culture to be small minded and petty !!!!!!!

Enjoy your time travelling....you are doing what most of us wish we had done !!!!!
missing you...Karen Bolton

written by Karen Bolton on August 14, 2010

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