Dodging Vehicles is a Sport What’s That Smell? (by Trisha)

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In the U.S., it’s pretty much drilled into you the moment you sit behind the wheel, that “pedestrians have the right away.” There are nice little cross walks on every street, you feel comfortable stepping out in front of slowing cars & they even give you a ticket if you don’t abide. In “KL” this is not the case. We quickly learned after being dropped off at the Puduraya Bus Station from the airport that dancing in & out of cars & scooters doing 80 through the city is a crafted sport you don’t want to lose. There are not many crosswalks & on the side streets, you must guess if the next zooming rider is turning your way & unknowingly make a quick run for it. If you like to gamble, great! Me, not so much. Picking a local & sticking with them gets you bonus points, but, YIKES!.. Watch out for the bus!!
Monty & I made it to our hostel in two pieces & were pleased with the hospitality & cleanliness we found in the new place that got great reviews.. wifi, a/c & my fav, rain shower heads! Without wasting time, we set off to be shocked by the culture in a bustling city. Bright colors, tall buildings next to beautiful mosques, loud noises & street vendors galore. We walked a bit & rode the crammed subway with the locals across town to the National Mosque, the largest in SE Asia, where we donned purple robes & bare feet & learned a bit about the Muslim religion from a very small Malay man with long nose hair. He was so sweet, we left feeling that it’s really too bad Muslims have such a bad wrap in our country.
On the way back we hit the Central Market where we experienced street vendors, fruit stands, loads of small humans, jewelry, art, electronics and twinkle lights over head. Besides the humidity, one thing we noticed quickly in the city was the smells… they changed from yummy wonderful to eye watering horrid in a split second … Fresh donuts… rotten garbage … papaya & melon … urine … flower leis … hot sewer…On the bright side, every one your senses is never bored in KL. A WONDERFUL Indian dinner at a nice restaurant for 17 RM each ($5) topped off the night & we hit the sack for 10 blissful hours… awww. Even with the “What is that?” smells & our sweat trails we left through the city, we really did enjoy our dose of culture in KL. Off to find some peace….

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Comments

[michaelgoldman]

First Blog message
First time for me as a blog reader....Ah! The excting smells of the big city. How hot and humid is it? Were suppose to get snow and rain on and off starting tueday, Haily was declared a disaster area from so many trees breaking under the weight of heavy snow. Food good? Give me an example of what a dinner consists of. Whats for breakfast? Dad

[B Seezy]

hostel
where was the hostel did you guys crash at?

[Trisha Ann]

KL Hostel
Backhome Hostel in China town/Little India