Kuala Lumpur
Trip Start
Jan 06, 2008
1
56
125
Trip End
Dec 20, 2008
Kuala Lumpur,
Wilayah Persekutuan,
Malaysia
Monday, June 23, 2008
KL is very impressive: big, huge skyscrapers, modern and with a zest of Indian spice (people are playing cricket in the streets). I'm staying in buzzing Chinatown and plan to stay and visit KL for another couple of days before going trekking in the famous Taman Negara National Park and see Cameron Highlands.
First full day at KL shows that the capital is in fact not that big. It is easy to walk from one end to the other (of the center of course) without breaking much of a sweat. It feels very big because of all these skyscrapers and the size of the roads, they're huge and almost too big for the population. I'm not concerned about any traffic jam soon. Apart from Chinatown, the streets are almost empty and being in a Muslim country, I don't think it's because we are Sunday.
The city feels a lot richer than what I've seen elsewhere in Asia. There are big shopping malls everywhere and you can find Mc Do, BK, KFC or other junk food at every corner. People here are so much fatter than in the rest of South East Asia.
The first day was also my first Malaysian scam!!! I was reading my map in the street (I know, big mistake) and a couple starting chatting to me...cafe, bla bla bla... 30 min later I was miles away in somebody's home with someone teaching me how to cheat in a Casino. I was supposed to play all night tomorrow to get around US$ 5,000 while he would get US$ 10,000. Anyway, I got out of that one too.
The second day, I went walking on the West side: National Mosque, KL old Train Station, Museum and the beautiful gardens. The museum was cheap (2R) but it was certainly the worst museum I've seen in my life. They have absolutely nothing to show. The gardens were really nice, like the jungle in town.
The main bad thing about KL is the fact that it is certainly the most unfriendly city for pedestrians I've ever seen. The streets are more like motorways and it is a struggle to cross. As a result, or at least partly for that, KL has no soul, there is no atmosphere, just a clean nice modern city.
