DAY FOURTEEN

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I had a bit of a late start this morning, but finally got myself ready and headed out the door a little after noon. First stop lunch.

I did a bit of research before so I could get some good food on my way to the conference hotel from my hotel. Surprisingly, a food court in the bottom of a shopping center came highly recommended. I went. Food courts here, as I have mentioned are a bit different than what you would expect at your local mall. This one was more like a maze with stalls that just made a few dishes and did not have a full kitchen. The food is also markedly better than your typical food court fare. It is like getting the yummy food off the street, except in a lot cleaner of an environment. I had Hokkein Mee Prawn Soup. It is a noodle soup with prawns, broth—tons of good stuff. A few things about soup here in Malaysia. People eat soup all the time, even on hot humid days like today. Surprisingly, it is quite refreshing. There is a thought that if you ingest warm things on warm days, it is healthier for your body. Also, soup here is slurped. Although this does not pass the KAH standard of manners, everyone does it. I decided to try too and it is actually the easiest way to eat and was actually quite a liberating feeling. Lastly, you use a soon type device in your left hand and chopsticks in your right. The chopsticks get the noodles and other solids in the soup and the spoon helps you scoop it all up. Anyhow, it was a bowl full of goodness—for less than $3USD!

After lunch I headed to the conference hotel for the city tour with some of the other conference participants. The tour was actually pretty good. The guide gave us interesting information about the history of Kuala Lumpur, pointed out interesting building and architecture and took us to key spots around the city. We went to the King’s Palace where they have guards stand watch—just like at Buckingham Palace. (Interestingly Malaysia has a Monarchy, but they have 9 royal families—one from each state. Every five years a new family is rotated in and the old out).

We also visited Independence square (where Malaysia’s independence was official in 1957). We also went to the National Mosque. This was very interesting because non-Muslims like myself were permitted to go in and around. The women had to put on coverings so that nothing on their body showed except their face—not even hair could show. Men could wear whatever they want. Islamic architecture is very simple but very symbolic—lots of blues and whites. We only had a short time here so I mostly walked around and then went and saw the big prayer room.

We also went and had a photo-op at the famous Petronas Twin Towers (though no the tallest buildings anymore, still the tallest twin towers).

We also went to a craft complex where we saw a batik art demonstration—they type of print Malaysia is famous for.
During the tour I had met a younger Korean professor who also attended the conference and who teaches in Texas and he invited me to try a Korean restaurant nearby the hotel. It was very good. I tried Kimchi for my first time! For my main course I had Pibimpap—rich with some shrimp, vegetables and a hard-boiled egg. One of the things I love about Malaysia is the portion sizes are a lot more manageable and for a petite gal like me this is good because I don’t have to worry about not being able to finish my meal. My new Korean friend teaches PR but is moving back to teach in Korea. I had a very interesting conversation where he told me all about Korean culture. But that is for another e-mail.

After parting ways I walked to the Hard Rock Café to pick up something for a friend and it started raining. And I didn’t have an umbrella. After Hard Rock I stopped for some Ice Kacang (the desert with corn and red beans)—because shouldn’t all nights end with Ice Kacang? Headed home and was soaked by the time I got home!

Hope everyone is enjoying the new blog! I see that some of the captions are not matching up with the pictures—I’ll have to fix that later.

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Photos

Historic Building KL
Old country club when the British ruled the country

KL Flag Pole
Flag was raised here when independence declared