The airport is located 50kms from the city so we had a pickup arranged to bring us to our guesthouse. It is the first time we have arranged a private driver where it was a family picking us up in their car. I guess it was some extra money for them. This is one of their two boys who was very curious about the strangers in the back seat!
We are staying in a guest house owned by a couple from KL and it is located in an row of 100 year old houses very close to the city centre. The rooms are comfortable and bathrooms clean so it meets our criteria...
Kuala Lumpur is the capital city of Malaysia with a population of about 1.6 million and is the business and economic center of the country. The city is quite chaotic with lots of construction everywhere...
The first day according to my FitBit we walked almost 15 Kms around the central part of the city as well as taking the free purple public buses which are quite crowded. The city also has a monorail system which we didn't use...
One of the symbols of KL, which is what the locals call this place, is the Petronas Towers. When they were built in 1996 they were the highest twin towers in the world...
We took a tour to the top, got the seniors rate even though we didn't ask, so guess who the attendant thought was a senior? First we went to the sky bridge which joins the two towers and then to the very top!
View from the Sky Bridge...
Below the towers is a large park right in the middle of the city...
When we got to the top we got a great view of the city which is located in a valley surrounded by mountains in the distance...
The first tower was built by a Japenese company and the second by a South Korean company and they are home to Petronas Oil Company, a large multinational company with interests everywhere including Alberta.
We could also see that the city was changing a lot by the landscape which seemed to be building up and overtaking the traditional neighbourhoods. In the picture below you can see a neighbourhood of small wooden houses which is one of the last in the city....
The architecture of the new buildings is also quite modern...
The city is also a mecca for shopping with a street called Butrit Bintang that is filled with luxury retailers...
And fancy malls, this one is called Time Square and has over 1000 stores, a hotel and a large theme park...
A lot of the public spaces are decorated for the upcoming Chinese New Year which is the Year of the Monkey and starts on February 8 and runs for two weeks. It is a big holiday here and people tell us we may run into some difficulties travelling and finding accommodations because so many people travel at that time.
Here are some decorations we saw that were quite colorful...
Kuala Lumpur is a very diverse city with three main ethnicities, Malays, Chinese and Indian so there is great food to be had all over town. We spent one afternoon in Chinatown which is quire colorful...
Petaling street which is full of stalls selling junk!
Waiting around for the Dragon Dance to begin...
Of course, I had to try the local street food which in this case was obtained by choosing a variety of meats and fish from sticks which they grilled for me and vegetables which I had to cook in boiling water in the middle of the table.
Cooking my mushrooms
Don wouldn't eat here so we went to another food street where he had grilled calamari. This place was full of small restaurants and people...
This guy was selling barbecue chicken feet...
The next day we took the hop on hop off bus which was a disaster! No air conditioning, no commentary to tell us what we were seeing and a bus that broke down and we had to wait in the hot sun for an hour, can't win them all I guess!
We did see a few sites however...
The National Palace
One of the main religions of Malaysia is Muslim so there are lots of mosques around the city. We went to tour the National Mosque but it was closed for Friday prayers...
It has a beautiful blue roof and covers quite a large area which was very busy.
Not far of a walk is Independence Square where Malaysia declared independence on August 31, 1957. The country had been ruled by the Portuguese, the Dutch and the British, who lost their control over the country when the Japenese conquered it during WW11. After the war there was a lot of civil unrest which led to the eventual forming of an independent Malaysia.
We spent two full days here so only got a glimpse of the city. We found it to be very chaotic and not easy to get around. The streets are full of construction, very few crosswalks and most streets are four lane highways so we were always dodging traffic. It seems to be a modern city with lots of traditions and a diverse culture. We are happy to have been here for a few days but are also glad to be moving on in the morning.
Oh yes, forgot to say it also rains everyday so here is Don waiting out the rain under a tree!
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