Kuala Lumpur X2

I took the overnight train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Maylasia and arrived early in the morning. I took the monorail into the city from the train station and headed for Chinatown, here I heard was the place for cheap guesthouses (i have long dismissed the idea of using guidebooks since the lonley planet I bought for NZ and Oz was a waste, instead opting for word of mouth and the free maps/literature upon arrival at each destination). I met a girl from Germany, at the first hostel i checked out. we decided to share a room and headed out to look at the hotels to share a cleaner/less sketchy room. we ended up in a dorm to ourselves (3 beds...thats a luxury for a dorm) at the Chinatown Hotel (2), for $20 ringgit ($6) which was ok considering it was maylasia. I headed out to the city to explore and to find the Vietnam embassy for my visa. I quickly learned that KL did not take after the grid like cities of the US with intersecting roads but had roads winding everywhich way and sans alleys connecting the roads between buildings. It took forever to get around and their public transportation (subway and monorail) seems to never get romotely close to any of the major sights. So I relied on my two feet and a terrible map with childlike drawings to help me navigate my way around the city in the tremendous heat and humidity.

view of a monorail station

the most notorious symbol of Kuala Lumpur, the twin towers. they used to be the tallest towers in the world but not anymore. you can go on the sky bridge for free but people queue at 6am for a ticket everyday and they are sold out in an hour so because i was only in KL for 2 days (one of the days the tower bridge was closed) I didnt get the opportunity to go on the bridge and see the view.

a decked-out tuk tuk......imaging riding around chicago in that? haha

a view of the "supreme court building" near the nation's mall in the center of KL

during my second trip to KL, Stuart (aussie I met on the bus from Cameron Highlands to KL) asked if I wanted to join him and a family friend for a drink later that night. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, i thought we were meeting a 20 something old at a hole in the wall bar but I was so wrong. Unbeknowing to me, Sunny(our 50+ yr old host) was one of the wealthier residents of KL. He showed me a side of KL I otherwise would have not seen. I learned that Stuarts parents and Sunny had both attended Cornell University to complete their PHd's. He first took us to the oldest English club in KL (I think its like 200 or so years old), where we sipped english style gin and tonics. They just recently started allowing women in the club-women are still not allowed to go to the bar, so because of me we had to sit out in the veranda (the boys gave me shit for that all night!) The club was right in the middle of town near (what we would call) the supreme courts and the nation's "mall" (lawn). He then drove us in his Audi to another club he was a member at. This club was more family friendly and was a mix between a country club and fitness club with restaurants, movie theaters, spas, swimming pools, tennis courts, and squash courts. We had a couple of drinks in the bar while a Malay women tried poorly to sing english songs. All in all it was a great spontaneous night out and a great way to see the more wealthier side of Malaysia and hang out with them.

I found that Malaysia seemed wealthier than its neighbor Thailand but not as well off as Singapore. There were places in KL that were poor like Thailand but then there were very wealthy areas, like for instance....this mall (ironicly called Times Square) that had an amusment park inside and 10 levels of shopping.

I just thought this was funny/interesting concept...."McDelivery"- imagine if the US had this? (would we be an even fatter nation?) haha Another interesting thing about McDonalds is that the menu changes in every country...(i should have taken a pic of the menus in each country..oh well too late) for example there is a McCafe/deli in Australia which also serves pasta on its menu and in Malaysia they serve these pita like sandwiches with rice cakes inside and they also have "rice burgers" (burgers between rice cakes instead of buns) hmmmm, interesting!