* Started off our Southeast Asia tour with ~1.5 days in Kuala Lumpur
* Stayed at My Hotel @ Bukit Bintang, which is in the city’s Golden Triangle district
* Spent one day on a walking tour of the city, including Merdeka Square, Chinatown, the Islamic Arts Museum, and the Masjid Negara (the national mosque)
* Spent the second day going up the KL Tower (think Seattle Space Needle) and then viewing the Petronas Towers, which were the tallest buildings in the world from 1996 - 2003
The Good:
* The Petronas Towers are beautiful, unlike any other building I’ve seen in terms of its architecture
* The KL Tower, though a tad expensive for admission, provides a great way to view all of KL and its surrounding area
* The KL Tower, though a tad expensive for admission, provides a great way to view all of KL and its surrounding area
The Bad:
* The entire city is seemingly under construction – which is a good thing for KL but bad for touring the city and being able to walk around
* The city is not laid out well (typical of Asian cities and, as Carrie points out, Christchurch as well), which is only compounded by 1) the fact that the maps don’t reflect the streets in all cases, leaving many times where we ended up confused or walking in the same direction, 2) all the construction blocking off streets/access ways, and 3) a seeming structural error that puts major tourist destinations on the other side of a freeway with very little pedestrian access
* I did not find the people here to be very nice – I don’t need people to be warm and pleasant all the time (hey, I lived in NYC!) but there was a certain distaste with the way people treated us that I did not like
* The city is not laid out well (typical of Asian cities and, as Carrie points out, Christchurch as well), which is only compounded by 1) the fact that the maps don’t reflect the streets in all cases, leaving many times where we ended up confused or walking in the same direction, 2) all the construction blocking off streets/access ways, and 3) a seeming structural error that puts major tourist destinations on the other side of a freeway with very little pedestrian access
* I did not find the people here to be very nice – I don’t need people to be warm and pleasant all the time (hey, I lived in NYC!) but there was a certain distaste with the way people treated us that I did not like
Our Southeast Asia leg began with a stop in Kuala Lumpur. Day 1 was taken up by a walking tour of the city, which included a stop in Chinatown:
We then walked to the Central Market, which was actually quite nice. Inside, this is not your typical market – it had a/c, was very calm, and nobody hassled you for anything as you browsed the stalls.
After lunch, we went to the Islamic Arts Museum which has a lot of really old and beautiful hand-written sections of the Koran, as well as other historic wardrobe, armory, and currency. We then headed to the Mesjid Negara (the National Mosque), where they make you put on robes if you do not have proper attire in accordance with Muslim tradition. Here is Carrie in hers:
And here is me. In the words of Will Smith, I make this thing look good!
And here are some other pictures of the mosque, which is really beautiful.
Day 2 we went up to the KL Tower (which is KL’s equivalent of the Seattle Spaceneedle) and had some magnificent views of the city. Here it is from the ground:
The grass is Merdeka Square, where we were yesterday (see above):
And then we walked to the Petronas Tower to have a look, unfortunately the skybridge that connects the two towers was closed so we couldn’t go up…
Finally, apparently Refloxology is a big thing in Kuala Lumpur. Carrie couldn’t resist. So, for a half hour, I watched as some woman rubbed and kneaded Carrie’s feet. As many of you know, I hate feet, so this was like my own personal 'Crying Game'. I tried to wait outside, but instead I got a front row seat. Here is what I saw. First, this is a sign typical of what you see on the street advertising the refloxology:
Here are Carrie's feet getting some love
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