Sept. 3 KUALA LUMPUR
We arrived in Kuala Lumpur mid afternoon on Monday and
took a cab to our budget hotel near Chinatown.
We got settled into our room then went around the corner to a little
local restaurant and had a late lunch of local Malaysian food. After lunch we walked around the neighborhood,
then down to the walkway along the river.
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Then we walked over to the Central
Market, jammed full of vendors hawking their wares and chock full of all types
of restaurants.
We spent an hour or so
meandering through the aisles of stalls before heading back to the hotel for a
little rest, stopping to take photos of the 19th-century Sri Mahamari
Amman Hindu Temple, with a fabulous facade of carved Hindu deities, and many
other impressive buildings along the waterway.
According to Will, Chinatown in KL, as the locals call
Kuala Lumpur, is a wonderful place to visit a night so, after getting a light
dinner at another one of the restaurants near our hotel, we headed out to find
Chinatown. Located on the famous
Petaling Street,
the whole area transforms into a lively and vibrant night
market after dark, and we could spot the colorful lights and Chinese
decorations strung from the tops of the buildings, from blocks away.
The vendor and food stalls went on for blocks
and we had a great time spending a few hours wandering through this throng of
humanity. On the way back to the hotel,
we stopped at a little coffee house for a drink before retiring for the night.
We spent the next day on the Hop On Hop
Off bus and, even though much of our time was spent waiting for the next bus at
the various stops, we managed to see a number of the tourist spots. Driving through the different districts of
the city, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a city with the density of skyscrapers
looming above beautiful historic buildings below.
There were many areas covered with huge
building cranes and it seemed like the goal of KL was to cover every inch with high rise structures.
In
addition to being its capital, KL is the largest city in Malaysia with an estimated
population of 1.73 million as of 2016 and is among the fastest growing
metropolitan regions in South-East Asia, in both population and economic
development. A few other points of interest we learned on the Hop On Hop Off…… Kuala Lumpur is one of the leading cities in the world for
tourism and shopping, and is the eighth most visited city in the world. It’s also home to three of the world's 10
largest malls
The modern skyline is dominated by the 451 meter-tall
Petronas Twin Towers, the world’s tallest twin skyscrapers.
At a cost of 1.8 billion Malaysian Ringetts ($435,000,000
at today’s rate) with glass and steel-clad construction and Islamic motifs,
the Petronas Twin Towers have become an
iconic symbol of Malaysia’s futuristic development. When we arrived at this stop, it was raining
but I managed to get a few good shots of this beautiful structure with its
public sky bridge. Too bad we didn’t have time to go to the top and take
advantage of the observation deck.
We spent a good portion of the day at the National Museum
and the Lake Gardens. The National
Museum, built in 1963, with its displays spread out over three floors, is an
excellent introduction of Malaysia’s history, economy, geography, arts, crafts
and culture.
As our time was limited, we
only had a sampling of the museum and, at this point, I wished we had planned
for another day or two in this bustling city. The Lake Gardens, located right
in the middle of KL, covers an area of 227 acres. We loved walking through the
areas of specialized plants
and unusual trees and lush waterways
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We spent a bit of time in the orchid garden
but didn’t have time to visit the butterfly park.
As we crept through the intense traffic, we passed by the
Kuala Lumpur railway station, completed in 1910 by the British colonial
authorities.
With its beautiful Moorish
influenced frontal façade, today, this building is now a railway museum. One of the brief stops was the national
telecommunications and broadcasting…Kuala Lumpur Tower.
Completed in 1996, with
its design being inspired by Islamic architecture, it stands at 421 meters high
and weighs in at 100,000 tons. We passed by many other historical buildings
as
well as wide, commercial boulevards lined with high end, name, American and
European exclusive shops, and, of course, a constant stream of skyscrapers. And, of course, Starbucks.
The hotel had arranged a taxi to pick us up at 6:30 to
take us to the airport for our 8:55 flight to Colombo. We started getting very concerned that we
weren’t going to make it as the bus was barely moving. We voiced our concerns to the young man who
was helping the driver and, since he was getting off at the next stop, he
offered to help us get on the train that had a stop close to our hotel. As we dashed to the train station, got on the
train, then ran to our hotel….about 10 blocks from the stop, we arrived there
at about 6:20. The fellow at the desk
assured us that the taxi would arrive shortly and that we would make it on time
and that it would be better to take the taxi rather than a train….however, with
the intense traffic, we weren’t sure.
The taxi didn’t arrive until almost 7 and, I was a nervous wreck as I
watched his GPS showing that we wouldn’t arrive until 8:15….and we knew the
gate would be closed. As the traffic
finally improved, I kept announcing to Bill each time we picked up a minute or
two for our arrival time. We had
resigned ourselves to the fact that we would miss our morning the train to Colombo and would have to find a place to stay in KC for that
evening. Then, a miracle happened….we
arrived at the airport at 8 o’clock and the check-in counter was closed but
there was a man there who must have felt sorry for us as we were so
frantic. He got us our boarding passes
and…..We made it! So….onto the next
country of Sri Lanka with our first stop, the capital, Kandy, after a night in
Colombo.
Amanda Frost
2018-10-11
You have a greater tolerance for big cities than me! I can do a city for a day or two, depending on the city; Frank would rather die! My exception is London. Since I lived there and know the place well and like the culture, I can do a week. Paris, just a couple of days...
Pam
2018-10-11
And the adventure continues. Wouldn’t you have loved to have me on the taxi heading to the airport? Miss you both. See you soon.
Tom & Terri
2018-10-12
Great update. We are in Florence tonight and will taking a train to Lucca tomorrow and then on Cinque Terre for ten days of hiking and eating. Safe travels.