At Home in Kuala Lumpur
Trip Start
Oct 12, 2005
1
30
48
Trip End
Mar 31, 2006
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Monday, January 9, 2006
We have been staying in a one bedroom apartment at Lanson Place (a serviced apartment complex, very popular with expats on long-term business assignments). It's absolutely fabulous -- small kitchen, dining table, comfy couch, tv (with a few English channels), radio, spiffy bathroom and daily maid service. Matt has temporarily stepped back in the kitchen, whipping up masterpiece dinners and a few excellent grilled cheese sandwiches. We've most enjoyed eating breakfast at home in our pj's -- no need to get dressed or showered for a cup of tea and some toast. At first, we thought we wouldn't ever have to leave the apartment but after a day of luxuriating we realized all the good stuff was outside the apartment door
01 Shopping
.We've been taking the bus and the light rail and subway transit around like pros. Most of the subway infrastructure didn't exist when we were here in 2001 so we have been pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to get around. We made return visits to KL's famous Petronas Towers and the attached pleasantly air conditioned shopping mall. We loved the AC so much it was difficult to pull ourselves away from the mall for outdoor pursuits such as a visit to the Batu Caves (a hindu shrine) outside of Kuala Lumpur. We both got on the #11 bus to the caves for a total of $4 round trip. Admission is free so we just followed the crowds up the steep steps and into the cave which held several Hindu shrines. It seemed to us like one of the shrines was for Indian infants with gold dust on their heads. (We really need to find out more about what was going on but haven't had the chance to ask anyone yet.) The caves were impressive but the biggest highlight had to be the monkeys that hung around the caves making off with the offerings that people had brought to the shrine. As we were leaving, we heard loud screams and saw a monkey literally jump on a child and rip the bananas out of their hands! The monkey jumped just a few feet away and starting shoving the bananas down its throat. Relived that we hadn't brought any bananas with us, Kristy was anxious to leave the scene of the crime and get back on the #11 bus where monkeys are not allowed.
In our usual style, we've done a lot of walking around the city and just soaking it in. We went to a very colorful and busy market called Chow Kit and walked through the oldest residential section of KL called Kampung Bahru. We also visited Masjid Jamek (a historic mosque).In order to enter, Kristy had to shroud herself with a full-length dark robe and head scarf
02 Matt Teh Tarik
. Although it looked quite fetching, it was extremely hot so we made our tour a quick one! Another highlight of our week here was receiving a call from Kristy's parents at our apartment. Since we had a phone and voice mail, Kristy "casually" sent an e-mail message letting her Mom and Dad know how to reach them "just in case". Well, we were both surprised to hear the phone ring later that night. We haven't received an incoming phone call since we left! Matt picked it up and from his face Kristy could tell her thinly-disguised ruse had worked -- it was her Mom and Dad. We have two lines in the apartment so had a really good four-way conversation. Tonight we're heading out to meet up with Mogan's brother -- Guna. We met him a few years ago in NY so we're looking forward to catching up and having some dinner. We're hoping that he'll have some news about Mogan and Kei's baby which was born before Christmas.
It's hard to believe we'll be in India in a few weeks (January 21)! In the interim we're heading to Malasyia's part of Borneo to do a little rainforest and tropical island paradise sightseeing!
