Kuala Lumpur

---

After a week in Bangkok with my friend Erik, I got a flight to Kuala Lumpur and checked myself into a nice hotel with view on the famous Petronas towers that were, until 2004, the highest towers in the world at 452m. The bridge connecting the two towers is accessible to tourists, but since it's not even half way up the towers, I didn't bother going up.

KL is a big city and has some interesting old "colonial heritage", but on a personal note, I didn't like it as much as some other Asian capitals like Bangkok or Hanoi. I did spend a day or 2 strolling around the Little India and Chinatown districts. The unique thing about Malaysia is the mix of cultures, most notably, Malay, Chinese and Indian. That makes this country interesting, diverse and "truly asia" as Malaysia's marketing slogan says.

On my first night, I went out to Hard Rock cafe, always a good place to hang out with live music. I met a local guy there who had ordered 2 jugs of beer but had gotten 4, because it was happy hour. Obviously, he needed some help finishing the beer, to which I gladly obliged. The Malay are such friendly people! :-)

A top tourist attraction in KL are the Batu Caves, just outside KL, most easily reached by taxi. This is a Hindu temple and there are a lot of monkeys prowling for other people's food or anything else they can get there "hands" on. The caves are huge, and there's a small temple inside one of the caves that opens up at the top, like an atrium. Luckily, the monkeys left me alone.

I also got back in touch with Munirah, a geology student in KL, whom I met with some friends of her in Mulu National Park (Sarawak) last month. She and her friend Siti introduced me to a classic Satay restaurant for lunch which was very nice!
After lunch we went on to Thean Hou Temple, a Chinese temple on a hill overlooking KL. A nice getaway from the busy traffic and the many shopping malls (who happen to be great though!). In the evening we went out for dinner at Tony Roma's in the huge Midvalley Shopping mall nad later we had some drinks in one of KLs many trendy bars. Thanks Munirah and Siti for touring me around KL!

---

Comments

[hLinda]

Come again to KL next time..
There still a lot of interest place that you didn't visit yet =)