Kuala Lumpur

  Kuala Lumpur, Wilayah Persekutuan, Malaysia
Saturday, March 14, 2009

14/03/09: Departure in the morning towards the city!!. The minibus picks us up and tells us he has no sign of our reservation (although we have done it the previous night). As I am not a morning person, my blood is starting to boil. We get our stuff in the boot, get in the car and tell him to call his boss. We don't care, we are going. Not a trouble after that for the journey through the windy roads in the jungle to Jerantut. There we managed to get a bus just 15mn after we arrived (I love great connections) to Kuala Lumpur. The scenery changes before our eyes..bye bye jungle...hello metropolis! getting closer to KL, we see the skyscrapers and especially the infamous Petronas towers!!

Too hot to dress like this

We take the metro, although it is not very user friendly. We have not figured it out yet. Looks as there is different companies on different lines and you need to get a another ticket at each connection. What a loss of time! We arrive in busy Chinatown, which is like another worlds with people buzzing all around. Malaysia is so cosmopolitan! You can see a woman with an Islamic headscarf, then a chine girl in a mini skirt and finally an Indian woman with a sari and bindi...all that in the same street! What a mix! Our accommodation is in Pailung street, busy market where they sell all kind of crap and fakes... After food and a bit of walking around the area, we visited an Hindu temple. Unfortunately the nice part of it was hidden because it is under construction. And that was the end of our visits for the day as big thundery rain poured on us. After sheltering in the temple for a while we decided to give it  a go. Soaked in 10seconds!

Insence

15/03/09: We are getting back into our busy sightseeing days! We started the day by visiting the neighborhood. Near Chinatown is Little India: loads of market, smell of curry and Bollyhood music blasting from everywhere. We stopped to get a few stuff in a Boots kinda shop and I joined Sean at the cashier to drop the pantyliners. The teenage girls behind the counter found it hilarious that Sean was paying for this. Walking, we spotted the KL's street X games, near the beautiful Sultan Abdul Samad building. The road was blocked for some tuning sports ca exhibition. We then went to Masjid Jamek, the mosque, where we where the only ones visiting. Before entering though, I was given the total Muslim outfit: full length dress and headscarf!! Very stylish and especially very warm!!!I don't know how the do it!. We continued by the the big central market. It used to be selling food but has now be replaced to sell souvenirs. Loads of nice stuff,though. I would have loved to buy some stuff...but big Buddha head is still in our bag!!! We accidentally found the hidden Chin temple. It is Chinese, but not Buddhist. Some of the ceremonials were identical to Buddhism but not the deities. They also had different rooms. It looked like a house with tiled walls where you could pray a bit everywhere. It was great wandering around..

View from Menara KL

We nearly crossed half of the city by the time we stop in a Scottish pub to rest our feet.  This place looked like a hangout for expats, taking their family for a good old Sunday roast (non halal food!). We wanted to go on top of the Menara tower, but the tiredness and the clouds gathering above our heads made us decide against it. We walked to the KLCC, huge shopping center at the bottom of the Petronas Towers. The towers are 452m high. The five tiers represent the 5 pillars of Islam. The towers look like minarets and have 88 floors, which is a fortunate number for the Chinese. I love the towers, I am looking for them every time we are outside! We got caught up in the shopping spree with each shop being more wonderful than the previous one. Asia is paradise for Sean...all the computer stuff are so cheap here. We went to cinema in the evening (Will Smith's Seven pounds) and it was really good. I was surprised that the locals were not smoking in the cinema. They have been smoking everywhere else so far: the bus, the train, the mall...

Sean is stronger than Hulk

16.03.09: After yesterday, we decided that it was time to buy some stuff. We did some research the previous night, and started our day of bargain hunting. Sean came back with an external hardrive ("wow! super cheap for 500GB" I quote). KL is supposed the be cheaper than Singapore or Hong Kong for these things. We also bought a new camera as our current one is acting wirdly since we dropped it in the desert in Jaisalmer!!

Top of the steps

17.03.09: Happy Paddy's day everyone!!!We have never been that far away from home for it before. Even if there is no parade, we will find an Irish pub tonight and see what the craic is! Today we visited a pewter (etain) factory. We could see every step of the process, it was very interesting. Then, we saw a painting on silk place. They were making shirts, scarves, sarongs, etc.. I would love trying to do this myself now!Finally, we visited the Batu caves, outside the city. These grottos are very important for the hindu community. Every year, in February, thousands of people come here to worship Shiva, Ganesh and the rest. The 278 steps are well worth the place.

In the afternoon, we decided it was time for Sean to cut the Jackson Five hair in the mall (just another excuse to go to the mall again). And for 2 Euros the cut, it would have been a crime not to go. Looking all nice, it was time to get ready to go out and celebrate Paddy's Day in an Irish pub. We found one, full of expats dressed in green with leprechaun hats. There was a band playing all the usuals: Molly Malone, Irish Rovers, No Nay Never (speciale dédicace à Nico et Meunik!!)...

Me cut your hair long time

18.03.09:Last day in KL. It is really time to go because the shopping malls are evil. They keep on hypnotyzing us. Even Sean loves shopping now.  The day was splendid and it was perfect to go at the top of the Menara tower. It is used for communication purposes and features an antenna that reaches 421 m (1,381 ft), which currently makes it the fifth tallest tower in the world. You have a great view of the city (especially my beloved Petronas towers) with binoculars (you could even see people working at their desks inside them!). In the evening we watched Slumdog Millionaire. Finally we found it and absolutely loved it! Great movie!

We really enjoyed the diversity of Kuala Lumpur. You are a few metro stations away from totally different worlds. You get in crowdy Chinatown and got off minutes later in a super modern neighbourghood!