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Published: November 5th 2010
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After first arriving in Kuala Lumpur, it seemed pretty confusing with the labyrinth of a road network and noisy traffic. However, once we found our accommodation and figured out how the sky train works, we started to really enjoy the city. On our first day, we went for a wander around the malls of Bukit Bintang and we found that Malaysians know how to shop in style. The malls (how American!) are immense. The biggest mall is Times Square, where they have an indoor theme park including a fully-fledged rollercoaster with loops and everything on the top level. Everywhere you turn, there seemed like a new shopping centre to explore. Gabrielle enjoyed browsing but it was torture knowing that anything she bought would have to be added to the weight of her rucksack. Alongside these shopping paradises, there are numerous night markets in different districts of the city. The best one was Petaling Street in China Town. China Town during the evening was great with an excellent food court (which played old country and western records on repeat). We enjoyed looking round the stalls and being part of the hustle and bustle of people haggling for bargains (especially for 100% genuine
counterfeited items).
One of the first things we did was to get an overview of the city by going up the KL Tower. The observation deck was awesome as it gave you an incredible panoramic view of the city that was built up in places but interspersed with forest. Afterwards, as part of our ticket, we got to go to a small petting zoo where Gabrielle held the hand of a baby monkey. It was a touching scene until the monkey made a grab for her camera case dangling on her wrist. We're finding that while monkeys are cute - they can be very naughty! Another animal-related anecdote (which Adam found most fascinating) was the sudden emergence of the Two Headed Turtle! These things are the tales of myths surely!? We know it's not Cerberous the three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the underworld or a two-headed dragon, but it's a start, isn't it?! We both also held another snake, but we have already done that in Penang (soon we'll be snake tamers) so we won't go on about it. Also included in the KL Tower ticket was the chance to pose in a sexy cowboy hat upon
a pony. It was very random. Then we had a go at a F1 simulator where Gabrielle cemented her reputation at being spectacularly rubbish at racing games.
One of our highlights of KL was the spiritual Batu Caves. This is an impressive Hindu Temple featuring a humongous gold statue standing beside 270 steps leading to the caverns. It was amazing emerging at the beautiful, naturally-carved cavern filled with statues and alters. We were lucky enough to watch a few blessing ceremonies. Keeping in the theme of religion, Deepvali was being celebrated in KL. Little India was a burst of colour with decorations and flower garlands. Bollywood CDs blasted at us from every direction. At any moment, we were expecting a choreographed dance routine to break out.
We had been taking it easy for a few days so we decided to punish ourselves by getting up at the crack of dawn to queue for tickets to go on the sky bridge at the Petronas Towers (aka Twin Towers), the second tallest buildings in the world. These towers are an icon of Malaysia and looked impressive during the day, as well as at night when they were lit up. After
standing in line for three hours, we managed to get some of the last available tickets, which proved worth it as we saw KL from a different angle. Although, we both agreed that the best viewpoint was from KL Tower.
An interesting experience was getting a fish foot therapy treatment. This involves sticking your feet into a pool of hungry little fishes that nibble off dead skin. They swarmed around you and it was very ticklish so we couldn’t stop laughing at first but after a while you get used to it and it is pretty relaxing. Our toes felt a lot softer afterwards!
The smog during rush hour can be stifling so it was great to go visit the Lake Gardens in the centre of the city. This is a valuable 'green lung' of the city and contains a deer park, butterfly farm and bird park. We liked having a wander around the pretty scenery before going to the National Museum to find out about the history of Malaysia.
After 7 days in our hotel, we moved to our first hostel. We stayed at Hostel Cosmopolitan. It was a sudden change from our pampered Tune Hotel
experience of having a private room with ensuite but we thought it would be a good idea to start getting used to having to stay amongst other people, both for the social aspect of it as well as saving money. It turned out to be a pleasant surprise as the hostel was exceptionally cosy. The people we got talking to were really nice and also helpful (hostels are great places to exchange travel advice and recommendations). The hostel felt like you were in a large living room and it was cool to hang out with people. To add to the cosy environment, Gabrielle was especially pleased to find there were two cats that lived there. One was called 'Mr. Jinga' and had a very funny 'relaxed-with-attitude' pose (see picture). Apparently he can sit like this for hours.
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