Petronas! Petronas!

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I was super excited to get to KL, as I have been totally looking forward to admiring the twin towers! Turns out that's about the only thing to do there...well, kind of. The first day I set off on my own to explore town, and was making my way towards the botanical gardens and park when it started to absolutely DOWNPOUR! Rain like I haven't seen before - unrelenting - thunder and lightening - but rain rain rain never ending! Except it came out of nowhere, so I was stuck out in the middle of town trying to decide what to do next! I mean, most of the "sights" of the city were just random buildings and parks around town! A pair of schoolgirls saw me crouched under a tree trying to stay relatively dry while studying a map, and came over and asked me was I lost and could they help me out? This was the first of many extraordinarily kind and helpful gestures from the people of Malaysia!

Well, I ducked into the nearest museum, which happened to be an Islamic History and Architecture Museum....and it was actually pretty interesting! After spending quite a bit of time in Turkey and visiting mosques in many different countries, I finally got the history of the religion! After a few hours in there, the rain let up a bit, so I decided to try and make it to the gardens again - and then - BAM! DownPOURING again! Oh geez, well, I was close to the National Planetarium, so I went inside there to kill some more time! I watched a movie about space (featuring US space shuttles? Quite odd) and had a good time playing around with all of the hands on exhibits, as well as going in this bizarro room where you felt practically weightless and stumbled around like an idiot! In the planetarium I met a businessman who spent the rest of the afternoon with me playing games and pointing out all of the sights of KL from the observation tower. (And later asked me on a date? Hello? He was like 40....I sure have the wicked charms!) But of course I declined and said "Homey don't play that game!" and went off on my own again, finally getting a patch of dryness to get back to my neighborhood!

As I got back into Chinatown, there was a guy next to me talking about how he was visiting KL for three days, then off to Thailand, so I had to interject - oh you will LOVE Thailand - and so I met Andrew (guess where he's from! England!)! We started chatting then decided to have a few beers at the local Reggae Bar - a true Bob Marley instituition in the heart of a Malaysian Chinatown! Go figure! We decided to get up early the next morning to head over and get tickets to the skybridge of the Petronas Twin Towers - THE thing to do in Kuala Lumpur! We got up at 7:30 and were one of the first (50th) persons in line, and got tickets for that morning at 9:30. The first part of the tour was a 15 minute 3D Petronas petrol fuel commercial! It talked all about how their company and their corporate building basically shaped, educated, inspired, and owned the community! Afterwards all we could think or say was "Buy Petronas. Eat Petronas. Drink Petronas. LONG LIVE PETRONAS!" The we went to the skybridge, which was, a huge metal walkway 40 stories up that we got to stand on for 10 minutes and then had to leave. WHAT!??!? Oh well. I did it - got my pictures! I was there! When we left by 1030 they had already given out all the tickets for the day! What a bizarre draw! Afterwards we had a delicious western breakfast - Pancakes! Oh yeah! It's about time...I'm tired of noodles for breakfast lunch and dinner! Then we decided to go with the western theme and head over to an Irish bar - I know, I know - but I was dying for a proper drink, some english speaking, and hopefully a foos table! Well, after walking about 45 minutes in the SWELTERING SWEATY heat, we finally got there and they turned the foos table into a regular bar table! (Seriously, who puts a piece of wood over the foos guys! They're suffocating! Help them!) And beers were about $10 each! Geez! That's what we get for trying to "go home" in Malaysia!

So we abandoned ship and went back to our hood - Chinatown! The market was in full swing and I picked up a super fun striped watch for about $3USD. Sweet! Took a nap, then met Andrew at the Reggae Bar again. This time we met bucketloads of people and had a blast playing pool and swapping stories! I was most excited to meet the pair of Kiwi brothers who were Polynesian descent and traveling the world doing performances of their local tribal dances! Love it! Later we went off to the "strip" and went to a club with an awesome cover band playing your favorites from the 80's and 90's! All American music, of course! We danced up a storm and met a group of businessmen who were from all over the world and out together for the first time! We had a BLAST hanging out with these guys, showing our dance moves, but even more so admiring their commitment to the dance fever (keeping up with me and one even dragging me and andrew to the dance floor at one point!) After the band quit a super dance-tastic DJ started spinning and I started dancing my face off! Andrew said it was like a switch flipped, I was dancing to the band then all of the sudden I was DANCING!!! I also was invited to a new zealand guys home for a new years day BBQ! I love forging international friendships and the travelers genorosity and outreach is so universal! Fantastic! I've now got new local friends lined up in the next 5 cities! (The funny part is I meet them traveling, and by the time I'm going to be in there hometown, they are home already!)
At this point I made a last minute decision to go to borneo instead of bali, keeping in mind always that no matter which destination I choose I'm going to have an awesome time! And three cheers for borneo! You will see its awesomeness when I get more time to blog...the adventures and new friends have stepped up a notch, so its a bit harder to keep in touch but ill do my best!

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Comments

[Mommy]

it's about time!
cheesy pizza daughter of mine. haven't heard a peep outta you since our phone chat on the 18th, not even a little ole e-mail. you know your mommy can't take that, not knowing about your safety! miss your stories and pics, you spoiled us with more frequent blogs in countries before! i'll try to keep busy with the holiday madness upon us and try not to worry as much (altho it's part of my job doncha know!). hugs and kisses.