Last stop on the world tour
Trip Start
May 06, 2007
1
165
166
Trip End
Jul 24, 2008
Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Monday, July 21, 2008
Monday morning Michael and I dragged ourselves out of bed at the ungodly hour of 7am to discover that the sky-bridge is closed to visitors on Mondays. Oh well. I decided that a little bit of retail therapy would help me cope with the change of plans and spent a few hours scouring the malls. Tuesday morning we managed to get in line at the towers just before 8:30 am. About two hours later we were handed tickets with a 1:30pm entry time.
From 1998 to 2004 the Petronas Towers were the tallest buildings in the world (before that the Sears Tower in Chicago was the tallest, but the Taipei 101 is currently in the lead). They're still the tallest twin towers, a fact that they're very proud of and repeat a few times during the 20-min 3-D video that you watch prior to being led up the freight elevator to the sky-bridge observation deck. The sky-bridge is located on the 41st floor (actually, that's just the part for visitors, the second story of the sky-bridge is only for people who work in the building). The 41st floor isn't high enough to see over all the other buildings in KL, making the view a bit of a letdown. Plus they're very strict that visitors can only go from the elevator to the sky-bridge and back, so the only way to get a picture of the sky-bridge from the 41st floor is to give one of the "tour guides" your camera and ask him/her to take a few pictures. Not exactly ideal, but the only option.
On my final day I still had one thing left to do in Asia - taste durian. I have smelled durian many, many times, a very easy thing to do from almost a block away, but still hadn't had the opportunity to taste it. Every time I attempted to buy some in a market, they insisted that I buy a whole durian - about 1-2 kgs. All I wanted was one bite and really didn't want to buy an entire fruit (a little bit bigger than a cantaloupe) just for one bite. My pleading to allow me to just buy one small piece must have been desperate enough that the older man working the durian stall along the street in Chinatown gave me one section and wouldn't even take any money for it.
I tried not to breath through my nose as I put the durian into my mouth but I couldn't avoid the pungent smell. It tasted even worse than it smelled - like I would imagine raw sewage to taste, with a custardy texture. The texture was smoother than jack-fruit, but there was nothing remotely sweet about the flavor. I managed to swallow the bite, but didn't even consider taking a second bite. Unfortunately there was no trash can nearby so I had to hold this smelly thing in my hand for almost a block before I found a trash can and a McDonald's bathroom that thankfully contained soap to try to scrub as much of the smell off my hands as I could. I wasn't entirely successfully, but at least it wasn't overpowering anymore. When the taste was still in my mouth 10 minutes later, I bought some cut-up mango from another street-side stand in an attempt to taste something sweet instead. It helped get rid of most of the taste in my mouth, but I still had a bit of residual flavoring from my throat for the next few hours. After tasting durian I cannot even begin to understand why anyone would like this stuff. I guess it's one of those things like Vegemite - you either grow up eating and loving it or you'll never like it. But tasting it was a quintessential Asian experience that I didn't want to miss out on.
To fill the rest of my day, I went over to the Royal Palace and watched the changing of the guards - not nearly as pomp-filled as London or Lima or really anywhere else that changes guards, but it was something to do. The palace looked nice, but tourists aren't allowed past the gates.
After visiting the palace, it was time to grab some dinner and head back to the hostel to take a shower before heading to the airport for the first of two consecutive overnight flights. I had a great time in Asia and everywhere else I'd been on my travels, but after 14.5 months on the road, I was ready to head back to the Bay Area and see everyone again.
