Kuala Lumpur

22.11.11-25.11.11

Kuala Lumpur was not as dirty and dingy as I remembered from my last visit

but I'm not sure if this is because it's been cleaned up or because I've visited

other dirtier places, namely India, since! Anyway we really enjoyed our few days

in KL. It's just the right size to get around and with plenty to do. Although

the transport system is a bit confusing at times and not properly connected.

Different services, MRT, LRT and Kommuter, have obviously been added piecemeal at

different times and don't quite link up. It doesn't compare to Singapore's transport system

but it is negotiable and with a bit more time and effort get you most places in the city.

We'd made a friend on the way in to KL - Anders from Denmark and we spent a very

full first day doing the sights with him. Our first stop was Batu caves which was

easily reached by Kommuter train. These are Hindu caves, with colourful icons and

several temples inside. To get to the caves you pass a huge golden statue, that

unfortunately was covered in scaffolding while we were there. There are then 200+ steps

up in to the caves. Along the way there is a small army of monkey guards who are very edept

at sniffing out any food you may be carrying. If you are suspected they will acively block your

path and pull on your clothes until you hand over your precious cargo! There is no

denying what is in your posession -they know! Once you have been vetted you can enjoy

the view back over the city as you climb and watch others being hijacked!

All the way in to the dramatic lime-stone caves you are escorted by chattering, playful

monkeys. Several of the monkeys had young clinging to their stomachs and we witnessed

frequent displays of intimidation from older monkeys.

The higlight of the rest of the day was making our way to the Petronas Towers, which I

have seen before but are still very impressive. Unfortunately the sky bridge was closed

so we couldn't go up it. We went to see the towers during the day and at night, which

I would recommend. Although they are a more formidable and dramatic sight at night when

they are lit up. It is also worth walking around to the other side of the Towers to the

lake and park where you can enjoy the view in the shade and with your feet in the cool

water of the paddling pool!

I think one of the most memorable occurences during our stay in KL was our meeting of a

man living in KL. In hindsight it seems he had probably been sat at Masjid Jamek waiting

for some tourist to come along that looked approachable. He started chatting to us as we were

waiting for the MRT, got on the same train as us and told us he was getting off at the

same stop as us because he lived nearby. When we told him we were going to visit the Masjid

Jamek he led us there and then insisted on taking us inside amd taking us around. The Madjid

is not a great feat of architecture but it is an airy and graceful building surrounded and reflected

by glass panelled tower blocks.

When we were getting ready to leave he handed us his business card and we thought with relief this was his signal that he was leaving. Apparently not! We began to realise that he was very lonely and didn't really have anywhere else to go, so we ended up letting him tag along for the rest of our day. Once we had left Masjid Jamek and turned the corner we came across some break dancers. One in particular was quite impressive - incredible upper body strength, standing and hopping on one arm. The audience were suprisingly subdued about their performance and were more concerned with taking photos. That's one thing that has struck me while we have been away, that there is a real balance between trying to get a good shot and just enjoying the moment. I find if you are concentrating on taking a good photo you miss something of the experience, you're not living it in the same way, you are trying to record and observe instead.

We also visited the Central Market, which was a disappointment. I thought it was going to be an

actual food or locals market but instead it is an upmarket tourist market with lots of knick-knack stalls and overpriced food stalls.

Early evening we headed to Bukit Bintang, which is part of the Golden Triangle area, much more

commercialised. The proximity of Christmas was very prominant here! Especially in the mall where was well as huge, elaborate christmas decs there was also a huge toy fair with various characters performing, presumably with the aim of emotionally black-mailing parents in to buying the most expensive gift on behalf of santa! We ate dinner at the malls food hall which had a vast selection of food.

Our day was finished off by a 2nd visit to view the Petronas Towers. It was a very busy day and

we really enjoyed Anders company. As to our other 'guest', he was a very sweet man and made us feel very fortunate to have each other and such good friends back home.

The next afternoon we headed to the Lake Gardens. We made our way to Masjid Jamek and then walked for about 30 minutes from there in to the park, then following the road south through the park past all the attractions. The walk felt very long and sweaty!! I expected the Lake Gardens to be more park-like (maybe it is if you get off the main road) but from the road it was not very open, no vast green space as I'd anticipated, after the entrance. We made our way to what is supposed to be the main attraction; the Bird Park, passing about half a kilometre of net enclosure. It did look very exciting but the price was extortionate! So unfortunately we didn't go in. We thought we would stretch to a cold drink in the attached restaurant that was also housed in a bird enclosure, for the experience. But again decided against

it when the price of can of drink of 8 MR instead of the usual 1.80 MR!

So we continued through Lake Gardens for another 10-15 minutes until we reached the Islamic Art Museum.This museum is very well put together. The first exhibition is of Islamic Architecture and includes beautiful detailed scale models of mosques from around the world and detailed explanations. There is also a beautiful exhibition of clothing, scripture and jewellery. The museum is well worth a visit.

As seems to be typical in Malaysia, we had some delicious meals in KL. But the highlight was going to a small pavement cafe that only served Beef noodles. We both had a bowl of Beef noodle soup and it was so tasty. Lean slices of rare beef in a delicious broth soaking oodles of sloppy thin noodles! We also frequented a different very basic pavement cafe on the same road as our hotel, a couple of times. There was a choice of about a dozen different dishes cooked by individual stalls. We enjoyed the popiah (vegetable spring rolls) and roasted pork and rice.