Apart
from the fact that it involved leaving Nepal, the flight to Malaysia
was great. The flight was only 1 hour and 40 minutes so I was
expecting it to be no-frills but Malaysia Air provided in-seat
entertainment, excellent food (I enjoyed both dishes available
because there was no veggie option) and a complimentary drink. A
glass of red wine (it probably wasn't great, but it was my first wine
in nearly 4 months so it tasted pretty good to me) and three episodes
of Modern Family later we touched down in Kuala Lumpur all too soon.
The only fault by Malaysia Air was the detailed article in the
in-flight magazine on how difficult it is to fly out of Kathmandu –
something I could have done without.
Our
first impression of Kuala Lumpur was: clean. Sparklingly clean. Not
“clean” as we had come to accept in India and Nepal which
actually meant pretty grubby but no signs of anything immediately
life-threatening, but actually clean clean! I even made a point of
using the bathroom in the airport even though I didn't need to just
because it was the first bathroom I had seen in a while that I would
come out of cleaner than when I went in.
On
the comfortable bus journey into the city we had our second
impression of the city: “it looks a lot like America doesn't it?”.
He roads are wide and well maintained, and lined by the usual
fast-food restaurants and brand names one would expect to see in the
U.S. From the air conditioned (and clean!) bus it would have been
easy to completely forget that we were in Asia.
It
was 2am by the time we arrived in central K.L. so we went straight to
our accommodation. I say “accommodation” rather than “hotel”
or “guesthouse” because we had booked into a recommended place
for travellers named “POD” because it consists of a number of
tiny (incidentally lime-green) pods barely larger than a bed and with
walls that don't reach the ceiling. After being woken at 7am by some
annoyingly loud teenage guests to discover a large number of bedbug
bites on both of us we decided that i) we were too old to stay in
places like this and ii) there must be better value budget
accommodation available in K.L. Some quick internet research and a
short taxi ride (from a driver who seemed disappointed to have any
custom) later we found ourselves in a really quite nice hotel with
air-conditioning, hot water and walls in Chinatown for only $3 a
night more than the POD place.
The
Chinatown of K.L. is a really lively area based around a large market
selling fake clothing, fake watches, fake perfumes...basically fake
stuff. The only thing that isn't fake is the food which is the real
deal, and really great – all manner of Cantonese roast meats served
with rice or noodles which I found almost impossible to turn down
(and all manner of unidentifiable animal products that I found easier
to say no to). It's a really interesting area, however it was
difficult to establish what culture we were experiencing. I wasn't
sure whether it was Malaysian culture of Chinese culture, and it felt
to me more like I would expect Japan to be – lots of shops selling
cutesy stuffed toys, things to hang off mobile phones and downright
odd knick-knacks.
Unfortunately,
once you get past its pristine appearance and efficient transport
system it doesn't appear that Kuala Lumpur has much to see or do.
The most obvious sight is the Petronas Towers
– the tallest twin building in the world, and previously the
world's tallest buildings from 1998 to 2004. After bemusing the
security staff at a nearby tower by asking how to get to the
non-existent observation deck (apparently we had the wrong tower) we
enjoyed spending some time relaxing in the nearby square as the sun
went down and the towers lit up. The towers really are quite
impressive.
Afterwards
we wondered around the extremely high-end mall next to the towers
looking at things we couldn't afford, and spent some time sitting by
the mall's fountains.
We
were due to fly out from K.L. to Jakarta just a week after arrival so
we headed out of the city after only a couple of nights knowing that
we would have a bit more time to explore before flying out. After a
few days in Melaka and Taman Negara National Park, which will be the
subjects of separate posts, we returned to K.L and had enough time to
go up to the observation deck of the K.L. Tower
– that's the one that does have an observation deck. The panoramic
views of the city were spectacular, and the sunset was fantastic.
Before
heading out to Indonesia we
also visited the National Mosque of Malaysia – a huge mosque that can hold 15,000 people. We visited on the
last day of Ramadan, a time when most Muslims spend visit their
families (presumably to eat and drink lots), and so it was very quiet
but the people there were incredibly friendly and really keen for us
to understand what was going on and get involved. We watched the
congregation pray and were then invited to join in with the breaking
of the fast which we did (despite having enjoyed my usual fill of
roast meats earlier in the day) by eating dates and cake. I should
mention that throughout our visit we both had to wear fetching
full-length, lilac coloured robes that made it look a bit like we had
joined a cult. It was a really pleasant experience (the visit, not
the wearing of lilac robes), and nice to be reminded of what an
inclusive religion Islam is at a time when so much of what we read
and see in the press paints a different picture.
I've
mentioned how I had enjoyed the food K.L. but Monique had been
struggling to find vegetarian food since we had arrived in Malaysia,
so after some internet research we tracked down a well reviewed
vegetarian restaurant that was quite the find. On our first visit we
enjoyed the lunchtime buffet which included all manner of vegetable,
tofu and soya meat dishes. On our return visit, on the morning of
our flight to Jakarta, we were initially disappointed to find that
the buffet was not available, however the dishes that we ordered were
both spectacular – easily the best food we had eaten in Malaysia.
We both wished that we had discovered it earlier.
That's
really about all there is to say about Kuala Lumpur. It's a nice
city, and one which isn't a bad place to visit for a couple of days
while passing through the area, but for me it really lacks the
atmosphere and culture that other major Asian cities have. It's a
lot more like an American city than an Asian city (a sort of
Asia-light), however it lacks some of the positives of America.
Whilst I quite enjoyed K.L. as a brief respite after nearly 4 months
spent in India and Nepal I wouldn't recommend it over numerous other
Asian cities unless someone was nervous about visiting Asia for the
first time, in which case it might be a good starting place for a
gentle introduction.
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