Element of Surprise

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There was an element of surprise in my recent vacation with my husband – I didn’t know where we were headed! I did have my share of dropped hints and took (intelligent!) guesses and wasn’t too far from the mark! The check in staff at the airport handed us our boarding passes, the first to Kuala Lumpur and the second one to Siem Reap and were clueless as to why i seemed like such a happy camper!

It was an AirAsia flight from Hyderabad and as it was a low cost carrier, it had no in-flight entertainment as in movies and the likes, no warm fuzzy blankets to keep you warm and no privileged seating for the well-heeled However, the staff were warm, the pilots witty, the landings smooth and this is what mattered the most!

The flight was delayed and we had a long layover, so after immigration we bought tickets for KLIA Ekspress, the nonstop train that connects KL International airport(KLIA2) to KL city center (KL Sentral) The signboards had signs in English, Malay script and Malay-English script. I worried that the longer I stayed I might jeopardize my English spelling skills!

The train journey was quiet and passengers few. Along the way, a visual treat awaited my sore eyes - lush green flora. KL had received a good amount of rainfall and the coconut palms looked luscious, their trunks covered by creepers, the ground saturated by water – transporting me back to my 5^th grade Geography lesson on Malaysia and the tropical rain forest. Sadly enough this treat lasted for but a portion of the ride and the rest was replaced by development and construction and here’s where the ugly divide comes up – the divide between natural beauty and manmade structures. KL seems to be doing its best to reach a balance between the two

At KL Sentral we made our way towards Little India, it was breakfast time, we were four hours out of India yet gravitated towards Sarvana Bhavan, for its famous South Indian breakfast meals and one meter coffee. Conclusion - you can take the Indian out of India but you can’t take the indian-ness out of him! True to its name, Little India was indeed a replica of the southern state of Tamil Nadu. With its roadside shops, jasmine flower garlands, temple architecture and music, it was easy to forget that you were away from the homeland. What was interesting was that there was a Buddhist temple, a church and a mosque all in close proximity, a confluence of people following different religions living together in harmony under the Malaysian sun! While walking around in signature Malaysian humidity, It was impressive how this muslim majority nation that ranks # 1 in serving halal food in its restaurants has embodied the principles of ‘live and let live’ As I walked on the streets of this neighborhood, the tactile ground indicators for the blind were shouting out to me that empathy was the understated element of this democracy

I did return to KL again to see the rest of the city which I did using the Hop on - Hop off tour bus which I must add is one of the best ways of seeing the city but best to be avoided during evening rush hour traffic. We sat in the open upper deck area until strong heat waves sent us scurrying in for relief! The twenty three stops quite cover the entire city and there is enough time at each stop to take good pictures. In fact our clicks of the Petronas towers from the bus were better and easier to take than those from the base of the towers itself.





Our visit to KL was short and sweet – but Malaysia has more in store for the avid traveler, until then selamat jalan!

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Photos

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smitten by the travel bug - I'm happy to be back to travel blogging!

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the adventure begins!

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this picture needs no caption!

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KL's KL tower -where Excellence meets Elegance!