Lovely Kuala Lumpur

---

Happy New Year everyone! I know it has been ages since I last wrote. We haven't been doing as much traveling lately, although we are going on several trips this month including Singapore this coming week, Hua Hin (beach resort in Thailand) mid-month, and Phuket when my Aunt Mary comes to visit at the end of this month. Also, Jim is making a work-related trip to Okinawa in Japan (unfortunately it was too last minute and too short for Max and I to join him). For those of you who have been hearing about bombs in Bangkok on New Year's Eve - do not worry, we are fine. We tend to avoid large crowded events here.

A few weeks ago we went to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and loved it. Jim went on business and since Max and I had never been, we tagged along. Kuala Lumpur is like a cross between Singapore and Bangkok. It has the organization and parks/green like Singapore, but Malaysia is still a developing country and has an extremely interesting diverse culture. We stayed in a hotel that was close to Petronas towers - it was not too fancy, but had a nice pool and free kids' club, which Max really enjoyed.

We were quite impressed by Petronas towers, but the best part of all in K.L. as far as Max was concerned was the huge city park right next to Petronas that had the largest and best kids' playground we had ever seen anywhere, including a free water play area that had fountains, waterfalls, etc. I attach some photos of Max enjoying himself in that park. He joined right in and had fun playing with lots of Malaysian children even though they didn't speak the same language! KLCC, the large mall beneath Petronas towers, was quite impressive and had tons of Christmas stuff going on, including a huge tree. Malaysia is unmistakenly a Muslim country, but K.L. is a diverse city with many religions represented and fantastic cuisine. People are exceedingly friendly and helpful. It also helped that Jim is pretty good at the language (which is essentially the same as Indonesian), though English is fairly widely spoken.

The highlights of our trip to K.L. were:

1) the public playground and water park near Petronas towers (we wish Bangkok had something like that!)
2) one of the best Chinese food meals of my life at a restaurant called Hakka (near Petronas)
3) the bird park - Max had a fantastic time there seeing all different kinds of birds, including peacocks that wandered around freely and tons of hornbills
4) the Islamic Arts Museum - the different art and textiles, not to mention the building itself which was shaped like a large mosque, was quite beautiful; had a nice Middle Eastern food meal in the cafe there as well
5) the architecture in K.L., which is influenced a lot by the Middle East - lots of beautiful domed roofs and minarets
6) an interesting expat/Chinese suburb we visited called Bangsar - had lots of nice little cafes and bookshops. We ate tapas at a Spanish restaurant on the main street called La Bodega and felt more like we were in Australia than Malaysia! They also had an organic food grocery store there.

All in all a great trip. Hope everything is well with all of our friends and that you have a happy and safe New Year!

Best wishes,

Maddy

---

Photos

Petronas Towers
This picture was taken at the wonderful playground beneath Petronas towers.

Park by KLCC
This is also in the wonderful park - but closer to the KLCC mall than the playground.

Having a blast!
Many kids just went in the water park in their underwear - including Max!

Bird park
We had never seen a peacock so close up before.

KLCC mall
The Christmas tree in KLCC mall was positively massive.

Butterfly park
I also took Max to the butterfly park, but he was more entranced by feeding the fish than looking at the butterflies.

Comments

[Song Li]

Happy New Year
Dear Maddy, It is always a pleasure to see Max grow through pictures and it is interesting to learn your impression on KL. I was also very impressed by the co-existence of different cultures and religions in Malaysia when I visited KL in 2004 and Penang in 2001. Shasha and I just came back from Las Vegas and we also visited the Grand Canyon. The combination of natural beauty of the Grand Canyon and commercial/cultural characteristics of Las Vegas, a very unique place in the world is quite an experience for us. Shasha specially likes the classic show- Phantom of the Opera and the new one - Le reve, part of the Cirque du soleil. I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a very happy new year. Song Li