KUALA LUMPUR

As we were leaving Pangkor Island via the ferry we actually hadn't yet decided our next destination. When we previously decided it was time to shove off from the beach we had thought we'd head to Kuala Lumpur to get a taste of the big city in Malaysia before heading back down to Singapore. But we had a few people give us mixed reviews about KL, as everyone in Malaysia calls it, that we paused to reconsider. At breakfast the morning of our departure our French woman friend was trying to persuade us to instead visit Melaka, a smaller more colonial looking city on the coast, which temporarily had us swayed in that direction. But while on the ferry we reconsidered and upon disembarking in Lumut we boarded a bus bound for Kuala Lumpur after all, and we were glad we did. KL ended up being very different from Singapore, the other big city we visited on the trip, in that where Singapore felt small, clean and safe, KL was big, frenetic and not as sterile, not that I felt Singapore was sterile. But Kuala Lumpur was definitely more like your typical big Asian city, along the lines of Bangkok.



We arrived in KL late afternoon. Our bus dropped us in the heart of Chinatown so we found a hostel close to the bus station. That evening we walked around Chinatown and checked out the main Jl Petaling market that has everything from sneakers to watches to hand bags galore. It's suspect as to whether they are all just knock-offs or whether because most of the items are made either in China or Indonesia they just get the overruns (or are stolen) from the factory to sell at cost. Probably a mix of both. Either way there are bargains a plenty. We didn't make any purchases that first night but rather just sized up our opposition to get our bargaining skills ready for the next day. After dinner it started to slightly rain so we ducked into a pub for a beer. The slight rain turned into a sustained downpour and our one beer ended up turning into several. We passed the time talking to a couple from Calgary who was on a 6-month trip around the world. From Venezuela to Egypt to Dubai they regaled us with stories of each spot and new must see places that we had to add to our already too long list of future trip destinations.

On Friday morning we woke up early to head over to the Golden Triangle, KL's business district, which contains most of the big high-rise buildings including the Petronas Towers, formerly the world's tallest buildings until 2004. You're allowed to go up to the sky bridge that connects the two towers together 41 floors above the ground. Due to the high demand of the sky bridge they limit the number of people who can go up it every day, which requires you to go over early in the morning to get a ticket for a time slot at some point during the day. Since our sky bridge passes weren't until later in the afternoon we set out to check out the rest of the city. Cutting across the town we decided to stop in the Chinatown market so I could buy a pair of sneaks as my flip-flops were hurting my feet and my other shoes, my hiking shoes, were pretty much too muddy from the jungle to really break out. After some hard bartering I scored a sweet pair of 3-stripe Adidas for the low low cost of $10 US. Not a bad deal.

After donning the newly purchased sneakers we continued on to the Lake Gardens district which sits on the hillside slightly above the city itself. It's essentially a large park that contains a variety of museums and other sights. Our first top was the National Planetarium, which wasn't impressive at all, but netted a visit mainly because of the cool air-conditioning we could feel pumping inside. From there we cruised by the Bird Park, which is apparently the largest outdoor covered bird park in the world. We opted not to enter but instead just walked along the outside viewing the birds from the street. Lastly, we made our way to the Tasik Perdana Lake, which sits at the center of the gardens. Though it was pretty much just a brown muddy lake. After walking around the gardens we made our way back to Chinatown for some lunch and for another cruise through the market as we had a few minutes to kill still before catching the subway back to the Petronas Towers for our sky bridge visit. It was about this point that the skies opened up sending everyone scrambling for cover from the rain. We waited it out for a few minutes before having to go ahead and make a run for it so we wouldn't miss our sky bridge time slot. Our crappy umbrellas provided virtually no cover and the streets were quickly flooding making it a hilarious and wet run to the subway. Just about everyone else had stopped in their tracks to wait out the deluge, except the two of us who were sprinting down the sidewalks, jumping over puddles and trying our best to stay beneath the few awnings that were providing brief cover. This was the hardest I’ve ever seen it rain so needless to say by the time we made it the few blocks to the subway we were drenched, new sneaks and all. Though by the time we arrived at the Petronas Towers it had stopped raining and a short time thereafter we were more or less dry due to the high humidity and warm weather. Live and learn.



Despite the fact that it was still a little overcast and stormy from the rain shower that had just passed over, the sky bridge yielded some great views of the city below. Due to the amount of people that they herd in and out of the sky bridge each day, for free no less, you only get about 10 minutes on the actual bridge itself. Click here to check out a quick video I shot of the tower from the sky bridge vantage point.

After taking in the Petronas Towers we decided to tackle the KL Tower next. The KL Tower is the 5th tallest radio tower in the world and looks much like the CN Tower in Toronto or the Seattle Space needle. From the top we were considerably higher than the sky bridge and actually had some great views of the Petronas Towers that we had just come from. Following the KL Tower we walked back in twilight to Chinatown for our last night in KL. We braved the market one last time, finally ready to do some real shopping and managed to pick up a few good items, including a Rolex for K's dad (which I'm quite sure was the real thing given it's $3 US cost). The next morning we boarded a bus for a 6-hour ride back to Singapore.