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Well, it feels great to be in modern civilization again. No smells that make you wish you had a cold, things work, fried tarantulas are not considered a snack, and you can trust what you eat and drink. It's also nice to not have to slathe on toxic spray, and put on clothes with another toxic agent in the morning to keep the Dengue and Malaria mosquitos away. Malaysia is actually a pleasant surprise. Kuala Lumpur isn't what most people think of when they hear "tourism" but it's been a pretty cool place to check out.
From what I've seen, one of the defining aspects of this city is that it is truly a shopper's paradise. The ringgit (cool word huh) is pretty cheap compared to the dollar, and it seems like everything is a third of the price that you'd find in the US, and they're selling pretty much the same stuff. The places to shop are huge. The biggest mall here: the KLCC Suria below the Petronas Towers, is 6 stories high, several acres wide (much bigger than the Dayton, OH airport), open until 11PM every day, and always packed. We stayed in the main street of
The Chinatown market
Our hotel was right here, on the side of this street. The was the place to get all sorts of "upscale" status items like those Gucci sunglasses you've been eyeing through the windows.Chinatown where the whole street turns into a market at night selling faux sunglasses, jewelry, "Louis Vatton" and "Gucci" stuff, and all sorts of other paraphernalia. I became the proud owner of a $12 Faux-lex as well as some other high status items. I can now consider myself a member of the nouveau riche. Apparently my biggest bargaining chip when I was haggling down the price was that the street vendors thought I was handsome (it seemed to be good for a 20-50% markdown). Another interesting observation - Tower Records is alive and well here in Malaysia for any of you folks over in the States missing that 'ole media emporium, and even Evita Peron has a store.
The people in the KL seem to love American junk food. There are McDonalds, Burger Kings, KFCs, 7-Elevens, and Dunkin Donuts up all over the place and they're always packed. I have to commend the Malaysians on their culture and recent economic success. There are three different ethnic groups with different religions living and working together within the same space - the Malays, Chinese, and Indians. That's usually a recipe for internal strife (think Iraq, Lebanon), but everyone is really chill
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I should drink more tea... here and seems to respect the other cultures who they cohabit with. The economy seems to be booming, and the city is very modern with great public transport and a lot of development going up.
Aside from Chinatown we've been to Little India, the financial district, the ex-colonial district, and visited the Petronus towers which are amazing looking. Unfortunately, as cheap as the food and merchandise is, there is one area where we got some reverse sticker shock: the bars. Drinks and cover charges were astronomical! A drink in Kuala Lumpur was more expensive than a drink in DC (and this is from a place where a decent meal will run you less than $5), and cover charge for some places was more than $25 - we were paying less for our hotel! Another annoyance was the lack of an open ATM on a Friday night in the middle of the most expensive (comparatively) bar district I've ever been to. We still went out, but just had to be careful to not break the bank. The cab rides were also interesting as the cabbies kept on wanting to take us to a place where we could "get some female
Inside the Suria KLCC
6 stories and several acres of mall. Huge. company".
Here are some videos:
360 degree panoramic inside the Angkor Wat complex Wall Etchings in Angkor Thom Night Drive against traffic in a Tuk Tuk in Siem Reap Backflipping Squirrels in a Pet Shop A walk through the Chinatown market at night in Kuala Lumpur
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