Francesca and Henk-Jan's Backpacking Trip!
Friday, December 18, 2009
Peace And Quiet In Kuala Lumpur
On the third of December our stay on Bali was up. We were not allowed to stay any longer due to visa-restrictions, so we had booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur early in the morning. Around 4AM (!!!) we were taken to the airport by a pre-booked taxi and dropped off, ready for new adventures. We had also found ourselves a hostel ahead of time, because we weren’t sure how hard it would be to find a hostel. Francesca found Anjung KL in ‘Bukit Bintang’ or ‘The Golden Triangle’ and we booked in there for a few nights. Our early flight meant an early arrival, and with a map in hand we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. We showed it to a taxi driver who took us there, having a hard time locating the hostel exactly.
I moved our bags to the hostel and made sure our room was still available. It turned out we were a little early and had to wait to check into our room. The hostess made sure our room was cleaned fast and we went upstairs to check out our new bed. When I say bed, it literally meant bed; there was pretty much no space for anything else. The price was good though, and free breakfast was included, so we decided to see what would happen in the following days. Besides, we were tired after the early rise and flight and just wanted to get some rest.
Later that day we explored a little bit of the area, in search of an Indian restaurant since Francesca had a craving for Butter Chicken. We couldn’t find anything that looked remotely Indian, or remotely edible, so we headed for one of the malls I had found on the maps. Since I’ve been trying to lose a little weight we opted for Subway, so we could keep an eye on the calories taken in.
The second day in Kuala Lumpur saw us waking up to a decent breakfast and some time behind the TV. In fact, we used the table in front of us to play some games. I had wanted to play some Scrabble against Francesca for a while, and there happened to be a game present. We did not play once, or twice, no we played three times! It took us the whole day and proved to be great fun. Being competitive, we both wanted to know which words we could or couldn’t use. We ended up finding a website that lists ALL Scrabble-words.
In the evening I walked over to the Subway again, picking us up some more healthy (and not very local) food. We also found a bedbug in our room, so we asked to move and got a different room. Hopefully we didn’t get any bites; we couldn’t find anything anyway! It did put us off that the owner seemed not to care much, so the next day we thought it best to check out and move to another hostel. We had found one right next door called ‘Tropical Guesthouse.’ The owner tried to push one of her expensive rooms, but we were satisfied with the ‘Love Room,’ which was decorated colorfully and quite a bit more spacious. And best of all: no bedbugs!
Before we moved we had to wait to check in, so we decided to pull out the Scrabble-board again and played one more round before moving our bags next door. The following days were equally quiet. We spent some more time looking for an Indian restaurant, which proved to be very difficult. Eventually, we did manage to find one just up the street from our guesthouse… We simply never walked up far enough because of the tips by the locals. Francesca’s butter chicken tasted very different from what she was used to, but she still enjoyed it. My sizzling chicken tikka was very good also, and the extra naans we ordered made the meal complete.
We also spent one day in Suriya KLCC, the city center mall right under the Petronas Towers. Francesca spotted Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and satisfied her pretzel-cravings by grabbing a pretzel-dog and lemonade. I had a cranberry-chicken wrap with some water. It sounds unfair, but I actually love that stuff! We tried to get up on the Skybridge between the two towers, but were told we needed to come back early on any of the following days. We found the cinema and sat down to watch '2012,' a pretty strong apocalyptic movie. The other days were also very quiet. We watched a lot of series and enjoyed resting up. I went out several times to get food: mostly Subway, but also some naan from a food stall across the street. Slowly, we recharged and got ready to explore KL.
On the 9th of December we felt ready to get up early and leave the Golden Triangle. I had made a plan for a walk of Chinatown and surroundings to check out most of the famous landmarks of the city that I could find on the maps. We took the sky train to Chinatown and walked towards its main shopping street: Jalan Petaling. We found a small Chinese Temple on the way, which happened to have a bunch of bonsai-trees standing on tables: they’d just had a competition. Those little trees must take so much effort to grow…
We continued our walk and soon found the entrance to Jalan Petaling. We walked through the whole street and checked out several stalls. The merchandise is obviously all fake, with famous brands being sold for a fraction of the retail value. None of it interested us too much, and once we got to the other side of the long street we started heading towards a big temple. On the way there Francesca found an Information Kiosk and since we didn’t have a small map we both thought it’d be a good idea to get one. Unfortunately, it was closed. We decided to go for a bite first and found the Reggae Bar just around the corner. The interior looked scruffy, being covered in Jamaican flags and Bob Marley posters. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was hospitable and the food good. Francesca got herself a pizza, whilst I settled for a vegetable soup. I must admit, I stole a slice!
The Sri Maha Mariamman Dhevasthanam Hindu Temple happened to be just down the street from our meal, and was our obvious next stop. We had a bit of a hard time finding it since it was in the process of restoration. It made the whole thing a little less impressive. Nonetheless, we took our flip-flops off and walked around inside. The artifacts in the main hall were impressive, and we could see the detail put into the whole Temple. Francesca and I exited again, and were dragged into another Chinese Temple by one of the locals. It looked similar to the other one, but we respected the hospitality and walked around there looking at the statues and other decorations.
Next, I took Francesca to Masjid Jamek, one of the oldest Mosques in KL: “The Sultan of Selangor officially opened the mosque in 1909, two years after construction was completed. The mosque was built on the first Malay burial ground in the city. Before the national mosque, Masjid Negara, was opened in 1965, Masjid Jamek served as Kuala Lumpur's main mosque.” We could only look at it from across the river, but it still looked impressive.
Before heading towards Dataran Merdeka we stopped at a bizarre fountain, where Francesca took some pictures of me. Merdeka Square, or Independence Square, is a large patch of grass surrounded by some important buildings. It was here that the Union Flag was lowered and the Malaysian flag hoisted for the first time at midnight on August 31, 1957. The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, which grandly overlooks the Dataran Merdeka, is one of the most significant landmarks built by the British. It now houses the Ministry of Heritage, Culture and Arts. It is also home to a gargantuan 95-meter flagpole, commemorating independence.
I had planned to take a little break in a mall/market called ‘Pasar Seni,’ or ‘Central Market.’ It proved a little hard to find, but Francesca spotted it in the distance and soon we were inside the 121-year-old building. We checked out the two floors, mostly filled with clothing and souvenirs shops. Our best find was a fish massage place. For a few dollars we could stick our feet in an aquarium with Doctor Fish. They’ll eat your dead skin right off and tickle you silly if you are ticklish like me… Obviously we sat down, weary after a long day of walking, to experience being a snack for fish. It’s usually the other way around!
We started off in a small basin with equally small fish, because they were supposed to tickle less. I could barely keep my feet underwater! Apparently I had a lot of dead skin though, because the fish flocked around my feet. Francesca had notably fewer fish than me; I guess she was a little less tasty. We took a lot of pictures of each other with contorted faces: great fun! After five minutes of torture we dared move on to the bigger fish. And yes, bigger fish meant bigger tickle… Again, I drew most of the fish to my feet, drawing some comments from a local that was highly amused by us. After ten minutes the fun was over, and I almost wanted to go for ten more. My feet felt so clean and relaxed!
Walking back to the LRT-station we found a few fruit stalls where we bought mangosteen, another local fruit that was supposed to be good. The owner let us try one and a sugary sweet goodness similar to a grape filled our mouths. Francesca was very pleasantly surprised so we bought a few and brought them back. We also spotted a nice hostel called the ‘Monkee Inn.’ We were shown a room and decided we wanted to move there to be in the middle of the action a little more.
We spent the 10th of December packing our bags and trying more mangosteen. Wiki says: “Mangosteen is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m (20–80 ft) tall. The rind (exocarp) of the edible fruit is deep reddish purple when ripe. Botanically an aril, the fragrant edible flesh can be described as sweet and tangy, citrusy with peach flavor and texture.” Yum!
Francesca went out by herself in the morning to get some breakfast at KFC's, which I didn't feel like. When she came back she announced a wild monkey (a macaque) was right outside the hostel, just sitting on a street sign. Some locals were feeding it fruit, and she saw it climb off with its snack in hand.
The morning of the 11th saw us stopping a cab in the morning to take us to the Monkee Inn, where we checked in, put our bags down and left to explore the city some more. We needed to go the Thai Embassy to get an extended visa, so we took a cab and rushed to the Embassy. When we got there it was too late and we had just missed the opening hours… Since it was a Friday we had to wait until after the weekend to get our visas. We decided to stay in the area and walked towards the Petronas Towers again, and found another impressive Temple on the way. The Po Ling Temple looked very rich in color and the statues inside were of high quality. Francesca picked up a free book: ‘Under the Bodhi Tree,’ and interesting story about the life of Buddha.
Just around the corner were the impressive Petronas Towers. This time I’d brought the camera and took some shots of the two silver pillars and the bridge in the middle. We continued our walk, because we had another goal in mind. In the distance we spotted the old KL Tower, formerly the tallest tower in the city. Our next stop was the MaTiC (Malaysia Tourism Centre, clever!) where we tried to get some more information about cultural performances. The MaTiC’s building itself was really impressive, having been built by Eu Tong Sen, a leading businessman in the early 1900s. He had a villa built in 1935 on Ampang Road. The same location was used by the British government as a military base. Over time it was renovated and reopened as the National Art Gallery in 27 August 1958 and much later refurbished to become the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC).
A very helpful lady inside gave us two options for dinner and a show: one was held inside, focusing on the show more than the food (the food was even optional), and another one where the food would be more impressive than the show. Of course, the choice was easy. We planned to go back to the MaTiC for the show the following day. The one thing we couldn’t forget to do in Kuala Lumpur was a pit stop at the Hard Rock Café; Uncle Randy needs his pin! We picked a pretty unique one, hoping to bring back a varied collection when we’re done with our trip.
We still felt we had more to see and started a long walk to the ‘Muzium Negara,’ or ‘National Museum.’ I had checked the map and thought it would be okay to go there by foot, but that proved more difficult than I had imagined. We had to cross several highways and bridges. With a bit of a detour we finally made it though, and entered the first building.
This first house was dedicated to the ‘Orang Asli,’ the original inhabitants of Malaysia. The name is a Malay term which means ‘original peoples.’ They’re a minority within the current population of Malaysia, taking up no more than .5% of the total population. And that is not all: The ‘Orang Asli’ are not a homogeneous group; they consist of a large number of different small tribes. You can imagine how low their numbers really are. The little exhibition was quite interesting, as we got to see some of their amazing woodcarving skills. We saw the process of making such a carving from the felling of the tree to the finalized piece. Their connection to nature and respect for its force and gifts was heartwarming to see, and it’s sad to think their numbers are still dwindling.
Francesca and I entered the main gallery next. This one started with a time line of Malaysia, taking us through the centuries to the present day Malaysia. We found out there were Malay kingdoms as early as the second century AD. We saw pieces from several kingdoms, proving their advanced culture. The ‘Singgahsana’ was most impressive: the royal throne was the symbol of power for the Malay monarchs, and therefore extremely valuable. I found the weaponry and armors most interesting. The way they protected their soldiers and set up their armies was well thought out. We also learned a little about neighboring countries, such as Brunei.
Next, we read about the occupation of Malacca. The Portuguese first took the city in 1511, using it as a strategic base. They tried to control the trade in South-East Asia, but failed. The locals attempted to take their city back, and in 1641 succeeded with the help of the Dutch. The Dutch ruled Malacca in relative peace for a while, but eventually certain local kings felt they needed to claim their city back and attacked. In 1795 the British took over, but a touch of Dutch still remains. We also learned how certain Malay kingdoms used tin as a currency, shaping the standardized weights into the shapes of animals. They were then also used as talismans.
We then skipped a few centuries to Malay Independence. An interesting photo gallery showcased the important figures of the 1957 Independence. The Proclamation of Independence, both in Bahasa Malay and English, was framed and we read parts of it. Finally, we read about 1Malaysia; a project of the current Prime Minister Najib Razak “calling for the cabinet, government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.”
Finally, we went outside again and found one last house with some information on art and tradition in Malaysia. We saw an explanation of the marital procedures, with costumes and gifts on display. Several costumes by several groups were lined up, as well. The last part of the museum was dedicated to the several techniques used by the Malays to dye clothing. ‘Batik,’ using stamps and tie-and-dye were some of the more used ones.
Francesca and I then decided to go back to the MaTiC to see our show. We saw the majestic Petronas Towers in the dark now, and lit up the whole thing looked even more impressive. The show was done very professionally, with the group doing dance after dance in rapid succession, with one lady explaining the history behind every dance. Francesca and I were impressed by the costumes and stylized dances. Some told stories of war, others impersonated animals and others were just festive dances for certain occasions. One dance, fully performed on the knees was particularly striking as the dancers kept slapping their upper thighs and hands in perfect unison, continually upping the tempo.
About halfway through the show the warrior dancer came down and asked if people wanted to try the blowpipe. Francesca was nudging me, but I didn’t want to go at first. However, that was how the whole crowd felt. Eventually, I stood up and raised my hand. I stepped up and got to hold the blowpipe. Several of the dancers were up on the stage with balloons on poles, and I had to aim for one of them. One puff of air later the balloon was gone and I got applause! I asked Francesca to go as well, and tried to get some good pictures. Her first attempt failed as she didn’t blow hard enough, but her second was perfect and destroyed the balloon. More applause!
After the show, we were quite ready to go back to the hostel and catch some sleep. Unfortunately, the people in our hallway thought differently as they were having conversations in the middle of the night, loud enough to wake us up. Francesca yelled once and after some dumb remarks back they left, but it ruined our sleep. We decided to take it easy on Sunday, going to Suriya to watch some movies. With the prices being so low, we actually ended up going to three movies. Francesca really wanted to see ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ so that was our first movie. It was the first Disney movie with a black princess, and therefore quite special.
Unfortunately, nothing innovative like ‘The Lion King.’ The second one was 'Storm Warriors,' an epic battle with Asian Martial Arts and over-the-top special effects. Francesca found this one a little less interesting, and slept a little during that one. In the evening we saw ‘A Christmas Carol in 3D,’ the animated Dickens’ story with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. Well worth it, and totally put us in the Christmas-mood.
On Monday we had to be up early to go to the Embassy. We took a taxi again to make sure we'd be there on time. We got there just after it had opened, and the queue was still relatively short. We had to bring our passports, information about our flights in and out of Thailand, as well as some recent passport pictures. After we had filled out our application forms we had to wait a good hour before the doors to the actual office opened, and there we had to get a number. Luckily I snuck up the stairs fast and managed to get some decent tickets, so we didn’t have to wait more than an hour. The whole process was still quite tiresome, so Francesca and I enjoyed a meal at the nearby Pizza Hut, where she nibbled on a personal pan pizza, and I ate pasta. The rest of the day was quiet as we planned going around the city with the tour bus the following day.
One of the hop-on-hop-off stops was right outside the Monkee Inn, so around 10AM we went outside and bought the tickets. We crossed off the things we had already seen and were left with a nice itinerary for the remainder of the day. Our first stop was a deer park. Francesca had found this on the brochure, which listed the mousedeer, the world’s smallest deer. It took a while to get to the park, but as we entered Francesca saw some enclosures, and spotted her first 'Kancil.’ The excitement in her eyes as the little creature looked at us was moving, and I was glad she got to see several of them. The rest of the park had ‘regular’ deer, and was less interesting, but the mousedeer alone made the visit well worth it. We walked back, spotting the House of Parliament on a hill in the distance, and had to wait some time for the bus, so we planned the next stop.
The map showed the ‘National Theater’ and the ‘National Art Gallery’ were right next to each other, so we hopped off the bus there next. We were not sure what to expect of the theater, but soon found out when were obviously the only tourists there. We heard the national ensemble rehearsing, and looked at some tickets, but they were quite pricey. We made our way to the art gallery, finding a side entrance that led us to the food collection place for the employees in the building. We were getting hungry, so we thought about taking a box and a drink each. However, we restrained ourselves and went to the first floor of the gallery instead. The permanent collection was quite impressive, with pieces from Syed Amad Jamal standing out in particular. His work was so colorful and unique (and had a lot of purple); we both thought his were the most impressive pieces. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures…
(Luckily I found some pictures online; they're perhaps not the best examples of his work, but at least it shows his style.)
As we had been walking for quite a few hours we thought it would be time to take a break, and so we sat down in the Gallery Cafe, where Francesca got a bottle of water and I drank a cup of tea, as well as sharing some tasty watermelon. Bellies refueled and ready to go again! We explored the other floors of the Art Gallery. Some of the floors boasted impressive art in a wide variety of styles from several Asian artists, others were focused more on local talent and not all of it was quite as stunning. But oh well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. On our way out we couldn’t help ourselves and so we picked up one of the remaining drinks that was still standing to bring back on the bus. Again, we had to wait some time for the bus to arrive.
We had to go back to the Embassy to pick up our passports. Luckily, the queue was not as long as I had feared, and the whole process was over quite quickly. Best of all, we didn’t have to pay! Apparently, the Thais thought it was nice not to charge tourists for extended visas, so now we have a 60-day visa and didn’t pay a dime. As we walked back to the bus stop we realized it had just turned the corner in front of us. I tried to run and actually caught up, but it drove off regardless… We had to wait half an hour for the next one to show up. We sat down in a little café for a while, whilst I watched for the next bus. When it turned the corner I ran out and made sure we didn’t miss that one.
By 3PM we arrived at the KL Tower for a short break. It is used for communication purposes and features an antenna that reaches 421 m (1,381 ft), which currently makes it the fifth tallest freestanding tower in the world. The tower is situated on ‘Bukit Nanas,’ or ‘Pineapple Hill,’ which is cleverly referred to as I spotted some pineapple garbage cans.
I was getting a little tired after all the walking, but Francesca wanted to see the ‘Heritage Centre’ she had found online. Knowing she likes cultural history I said okay, and so we headed for the Centre. The bus didn’t actually stop there, so we ended up at the Craft Cultural Complex which was established to promote local arts and handicraft. It housed a museum and a village; all dedicated to showing tourists how the art is made. We were running out of time though, so we asked for directions to the ‘Heritage Centre.’ It proved more difficult than we thought, as everyone we asked shook their heads, having no idea. We kind of guessed the direction based on the map, and eventually managed to find it. The center sadly wasn’t much of a center, as it didn’t have any information, just a traditional longhouse outside. We took some pictures of it and then decided to go to ‘Berjaya Times Square,’ another huge mall we had read about.
It didn’t take all too long to walk there, and as Francesca spotted a Krispy Kreme we had to stop for a drink. She thought she could get a doughnut on the way out, as we were going to eat later. Anyway, we went inside and found a gigantic mall. Francesca found an optometrist, where she tried out some colored contacts, whilst I watched some people playing Jenga outside. The mall was very Christmassy, with large snowmen standing around, and even larger Christmas trees decorating the entrance. Francesca showed me some of her new contacts, which looked cool, but were a little on the expensive side. As we explored the mall Francesca found her prized conditioner, that she’s been using to make her hair look even curlier, and which she’d run out of! A little later we heard screams in the distance, and to our surprise and Francesca’s excitement found a whole theme park, including a rollercoaster inside the mall!
She pretty much ran down to the right floor and we looked at the price for the ride. Unfortunately we would have to pay a ticket to get into the whole park, which we would only be able to enter for a few hours. We did however, explore the park proper and saw the rollercoaster was the main attraction. From up high the mall looked even more imposing, as the people and stalls ten floors below became miniatures. We felt it was high time for dinner, and, still eating healthy I got rice porridge from a local cuisine restaurant. I joined Francesca in Wendy’s where she went for the less healthy option: a burger and fries. She couldn’t finish all of it though, so I did what every mother tells their kid not to do: play with food!
Wednesday, December the 16th was devoted to visiting one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in Gombak district, 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill.
According to Wiki: “The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli). Rising almost 100 m above the ground, Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a 100 m-high ceiling, and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps.”
Indeed, walking up to the stairs and looking at the gargantuan golden statue was extraordinary. We could not imagine the (wo)man hours that had gone into the creation of such an enormous figure. The Wiki says this about the statue: “Standing at 42.7 meter (140.09 ft) high, the world's tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity, is located outside Batu Caves, near the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The statue, which cost approximately $500,000, is made of 1550 cubic meters of concrete, 250 ton of steel bars and 300 liters of gold paint brought in from neighboring Thailand.”
As we climbed the stairs we were once again surrounded by macaques, which were just as ready to steal snacks from tourists as their cousins in other countries. We were getting quite sweaty due to the sun, but climbing the stairs went smooth. At the top we were greeted by a man with snakes and giant lizards, ready to ask a price for pictures. We sailed past him, as well as the souvenir shop, to the opening of the cave. Both sides were covered in statues and paintings in and on the rocks. We descended the stairs to the middle of the main cave and had to go up some again to come to an opening in the rock ceiling, where we found stalagmites (the ones hanging down!) and more groups of statues. We took a bunch of pictures and marveled at the size of the cave, imagining how many people could congregate here. As we were walking back we passed the souvenir shop and read some information about the ‘Thaipusam’ Festival. One of the highlights of this festival is the devotion ceremony:
“The kavadi may be simple wooden arched semi-circular supports holding a carrier foisted with brass or clay pots of milk or huge, heavy ones which may rise up to two meters, built of bowed metal frames which hold long skewers, the sharpened end of which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. The kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers imported from India. Some kavadi may weigh as much as a hundred kilograms. After a bath in the nearby Sungei Batu (Rocky River), the devotees wend their way to the Temple Cave and with remarkable endurance they climb the flights of stairs to the temple in the cave. Devotees use the wider centre staircase while worshippers and onlookers throng up and down those balustrades off on either side. When the kavadi bearer arrives at the foot of the 272 step stairway leading up to the Temple Cave, the devotee has to make the arduous climb against gravity -- against the press of the bustling masses.”
The walk had made us hungry, regardless of the rather gruesome pictures at the end, so we looked for an Indian place near the exit. Unfortunately for Francesca all of them were vegetarian only, so no butter chicken. Instead we order some roti canai and dips, which we shared, before heading back to the bus stop. We had taken a local bus to the Caves, and still had to find the stop to get back on it. Luckily, some helpful people pointed us in the right direction and we found the stop near a little minimarket. As it started pouring down we were safely sitting inside the stall, waiting for the bus. As soon as I saw it pop up in the distance we got up and got back to the city.
The last day of our stay in the Monkee Inn was a quiet one. We ate at Nando’s, where the Piri Piri Chicken Pitas were delicious. The bags were packed by yours truly, and a taxi was booked for early the next morning. As we went to bed early, Francesca and I also woke up in time, and headed to the airport. As we arrived I asked Francesca to get a trolley, whilst I took the bags out of the car. I thought she’d brought her purse, which only had her sweater in it for the flight, so when I checked the car for any stragglers I saw nothing. As Francesca came walking back I didn’t spot her purse, and saw the taxi drive off. I ran after it but couldn’t catch it… Bye bag… To make matters worse our flight got delayed by almost two hours. Francesca will tell you all about Kuching!
I moved our bags to the hostel and made sure our room was still available. It turned out we were a little early and had to wait to check into our room. The hostess made sure our room was cleaned fast and we went upstairs to check out our new bed. When I say bed, it literally meant bed; there was pretty much no space for anything else. The price was good though, and free breakfast was included, so we decided to see what would happen in the following days. Besides, we were tired after the early rise and flight and just wanted to get some rest.
Later that day we explored a little bit of the area, in search of an Indian restaurant since Francesca had a craving for Butter Chicken. We couldn’t find anything that looked remotely Indian, or remotely edible, so we headed for one of the malls I had found on the maps. Since I’ve been trying to lose a little weight we opted for Subway, so we could keep an eye on the calories taken in.
The second day in Kuala Lumpur saw us waking up to a decent breakfast and some time behind the TV. In fact, we used the table in front of us to play some games. I had wanted to play some Scrabble against Francesca for a while, and there happened to be a game present. We did not play once, or twice, no we played three times! It took us the whole day and proved to be great fun. Being competitive, we both wanted to know which words we could or couldn’t use. We ended up finding a website that lists ALL Scrabble-words.
In the evening I walked over to the Subway again, picking us up some more healthy (and not very local) food. We also found a bedbug in our room, so we asked to move and got a different room. Hopefully we didn’t get any bites; we couldn’t find anything anyway! It did put us off that the owner seemed not to care much, so the next day we thought it best to check out and move to another hostel. We had found one right next door called ‘Tropical Guesthouse.’ The owner tried to push one of her expensive rooms, but we were satisfied with the ‘Love Room,’ which was decorated colorfully and quite a bit more spacious. And best of all: no bedbugs!
Before we moved we had to wait to check in, so we decided to pull out the Scrabble-board again and played one more round before moving our bags next door. The following days were equally quiet. We spent some more time looking for an Indian restaurant, which proved to be very difficult. Eventually, we did manage to find one just up the street from our guesthouse… We simply never walked up far enough because of the tips by the locals. Francesca’s butter chicken tasted very different from what she was used to, but she still enjoyed it. My sizzling chicken tikka was very good also, and the extra naans we ordered made the meal complete.
We also spent one day in Suriya KLCC, the city center mall right under the Petronas Towers. Francesca spotted Auntie Anne’s Pretzels and satisfied her pretzel-cravings by grabbing a pretzel-dog and lemonade. I had a cranberry-chicken wrap with some water. It sounds unfair, but I actually love that stuff! We tried to get up on the Skybridge between the two towers, but were told we needed to come back early on any of the following days. We found the cinema and sat down to watch '2012,' a pretty strong apocalyptic movie. The other days were also very quiet. We watched a lot of series and enjoyed resting up. I went out several times to get food: mostly Subway, but also some naan from a food stall across the street. Slowly, we recharged and got ready to explore KL.
On the 9th of December we felt ready to get up early and leave the Golden Triangle. I had made a plan for a walk of Chinatown and surroundings to check out most of the famous landmarks of the city that I could find on the maps. We took the sky train to Chinatown and walked towards its main shopping street: Jalan Petaling. We found a small Chinese Temple on the way, which happened to have a bunch of bonsai-trees standing on tables: they’d just had a competition. Those little trees must take so much effort to grow…
We continued our walk and soon found the entrance to Jalan Petaling. We walked through the whole street and checked out several stalls. The merchandise is obviously all fake, with famous brands being sold for a fraction of the retail value. None of it interested us too much, and once we got to the other side of the long street we started heading towards a big temple. On the way there Francesca found an Information Kiosk and since we didn’t have a small map we both thought it’d be a good idea to get one. Unfortunately, it was closed. We decided to go for a bite first and found the Reggae Bar just around the corner. The interior looked scruffy, being covered in Jamaican flags and Bob Marley posters. Nonetheless, the atmosphere was hospitable and the food good. Francesca got herself a pizza, whilst I settled for a vegetable soup. I must admit, I stole a slice!
The Sri Maha Mariamman Dhevasthanam Hindu Temple happened to be just down the street from our meal, and was our obvious next stop. We had a bit of a hard time finding it since it was in the process of restoration. It made the whole thing a little less impressive. Nonetheless, we took our flip-flops off and walked around inside. The artifacts in the main hall were impressive, and we could see the detail put into the whole Temple. Francesca and I exited again, and were dragged into another Chinese Temple by one of the locals. It looked similar to the other one, but we respected the hospitality and walked around there looking at the statues and other decorations.
Next, I took Francesca to Masjid Jamek, one of the oldest Mosques in KL: “The Sultan of Selangor officially opened the mosque in 1909, two years after construction was completed. The mosque was built on the first Malay burial ground in the city. Before the national mosque, Masjid Negara, was opened in 1965, Masjid Jamek served as Kuala Lumpur's main mosque.” We could only look at it from across the river, but it still looked impressive.
Before heading towards Dataran Merdeka we stopped at a bizarre fountain, where Francesca took some pictures of me. Merdeka Square, or Independence Square, is a large patch of grass surrounded by some important buildings. It was here that the Union Flag was lowered and the Malaysian flag hoisted for the first time at midnight on August 31, 1957. The Sultan Abdul Samad Building, which grandly overlooks the Dataran Merdeka, is one of the most significant landmarks built by the British. It now houses the Ministry of Heritage, Culture and Arts. It is also home to a gargantuan 95-meter flagpole, commemorating independence.
I had planned to take a little break in a mall/market called ‘Pasar Seni,’ or ‘Central Market.’ It proved a little hard to find, but Francesca spotted it in the distance and soon we were inside the 121-year-old building. We checked out the two floors, mostly filled with clothing and souvenirs shops. Our best find was a fish massage place. For a few dollars we could stick our feet in an aquarium with Doctor Fish. They’ll eat your dead skin right off and tickle you silly if you are ticklish like me… Obviously we sat down, weary after a long day of walking, to experience being a snack for fish. It’s usually the other way around!
We started off in a small basin with equally small fish, because they were supposed to tickle less. I could barely keep my feet underwater! Apparently I had a lot of dead skin though, because the fish flocked around my feet. Francesca had notably fewer fish than me; I guess she was a little less tasty. We took a lot of pictures of each other with contorted faces: great fun! After five minutes of torture we dared move on to the bigger fish. And yes, bigger fish meant bigger tickle… Again, I drew most of the fish to my feet, drawing some comments from a local that was highly amused by us. After ten minutes the fun was over, and I almost wanted to go for ten more. My feet felt so clean and relaxed!
Walking back to the LRT-station we found a few fruit stalls where we bought mangosteen, another local fruit that was supposed to be good. The owner let us try one and a sugary sweet goodness similar to a grape filled our mouths. Francesca was very pleasantly surprised so we bought a few and brought them back. We also spotted a nice hostel called the ‘Monkee Inn.’ We were shown a room and decided we wanted to move there to be in the middle of the action a little more.
We spent the 10th of December packing our bags and trying more mangosteen. Wiki says: “Mangosteen is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 7 to 25 m (20–80 ft) tall. The rind (exocarp) of the edible fruit is deep reddish purple when ripe. Botanically an aril, the fragrant edible flesh can be described as sweet and tangy, citrusy with peach flavor and texture.” Yum!
Francesca went out by herself in the morning to get some breakfast at KFC's, which I didn't feel like. When she came back she announced a wild monkey (a macaque) was right outside the hostel, just sitting on a street sign. Some locals were feeding it fruit, and she saw it climb off with its snack in hand.
The morning of the 11th saw us stopping a cab in the morning to take us to the Monkee Inn, where we checked in, put our bags down and left to explore the city some more. We needed to go the Thai Embassy to get an extended visa, so we took a cab and rushed to the Embassy. When we got there it was too late and we had just missed the opening hours… Since it was a Friday we had to wait until after the weekend to get our visas. We decided to stay in the area and walked towards the Petronas Towers again, and found another impressive Temple on the way. The Po Ling Temple looked very rich in color and the statues inside were of high quality. Francesca picked up a free book: ‘Under the Bodhi Tree,’ and interesting story about the life of Buddha.
Just around the corner were the impressive Petronas Towers. This time I’d brought the camera and took some shots of the two silver pillars and the bridge in the middle. We continued our walk, because we had another goal in mind. In the distance we spotted the old KL Tower, formerly the tallest tower in the city. Our next stop was the MaTiC (Malaysia Tourism Centre, clever!) where we tried to get some more information about cultural performances. The MaTiC’s building itself was really impressive, having been built by Eu Tong Sen, a leading businessman in the early 1900s. He had a villa built in 1935 on Ampang Road. The same location was used by the British government as a military base. Over time it was renovated and reopened as the National Art Gallery in 27 August 1958 and much later refurbished to become the Malaysia Tourism Centre (MaTiC).
A very helpful lady inside gave us two options for dinner and a show: one was held inside, focusing on the show more than the food (the food was even optional), and another one where the food would be more impressive than the show. Of course, the choice was easy. We planned to go back to the MaTiC for the show the following day. The one thing we couldn’t forget to do in Kuala Lumpur was a pit stop at the Hard Rock Café; Uncle Randy needs his pin! We picked a pretty unique one, hoping to bring back a varied collection when we’re done with our trip.
We still felt we had more to see and started a long walk to the ‘Muzium Negara,’ or ‘National Museum.’ I had checked the map and thought it would be okay to go there by foot, but that proved more difficult than I had imagined. We had to cross several highways and bridges. With a bit of a detour we finally made it though, and entered the first building.
This first house was dedicated to the ‘Orang Asli,’ the original inhabitants of Malaysia. The name is a Malay term which means ‘original peoples.’ They’re a minority within the current population of Malaysia, taking up no more than .5% of the total population. And that is not all: The ‘Orang Asli’ are not a homogeneous group; they consist of a large number of different small tribes. You can imagine how low their numbers really are. The little exhibition was quite interesting, as we got to see some of their amazing woodcarving skills. We saw the process of making such a carving from the felling of the tree to the finalized piece. Their connection to nature and respect for its force and gifts was heartwarming to see, and it’s sad to think their numbers are still dwindling.
Francesca and I entered the main gallery next. This one started with a time line of Malaysia, taking us through the centuries to the present day Malaysia. We found out there were Malay kingdoms as early as the second century AD. We saw pieces from several kingdoms, proving their advanced culture. The ‘Singgahsana’ was most impressive: the royal throne was the symbol of power for the Malay monarchs, and therefore extremely valuable. I found the weaponry and armors most interesting. The way they protected their soldiers and set up their armies was well thought out. We also learned a little about neighboring countries, such as Brunei.
Next, we read about the occupation of Malacca. The Portuguese first took the city in 1511, using it as a strategic base. They tried to control the trade in South-East Asia, but failed. The locals attempted to take their city back, and in 1641 succeeded with the help of the Dutch. The Dutch ruled Malacca in relative peace for a while, but eventually certain local kings felt they needed to claim their city back and attacked. In 1795 the British took over, but a touch of Dutch still remains. We also learned how certain Malay kingdoms used tin as a currency, shaping the standardized weights into the shapes of animals. They were then also used as talismans.
We then skipped a few centuries to Malay Independence. An interesting photo gallery showcased the important figures of the 1957 Independence. The Proclamation of Independence, both in Bahasa Malay and English, was framed and we read parts of it. Finally, we read about 1Malaysia; a project of the current Prime Minister Najib Razak “calling for the cabinet, government agencies, and civil servants to more strongly emphasize ethnic harmony, national unity, and efficient governance.”
Finally, we went outside again and found one last house with some information on art and tradition in Malaysia. We saw an explanation of the marital procedures, with costumes and gifts on display. Several costumes by several groups were lined up, as well. The last part of the museum was dedicated to the several techniques used by the Malays to dye clothing. ‘Batik,’ using stamps and tie-and-dye were some of the more used ones.
Francesca and I then decided to go back to the MaTiC to see our show. We saw the majestic Petronas Towers in the dark now, and lit up the whole thing looked even more impressive. The show was done very professionally, with the group doing dance after dance in rapid succession, with one lady explaining the history behind every dance. Francesca and I were impressed by the costumes and stylized dances. Some told stories of war, others impersonated animals and others were just festive dances for certain occasions. One dance, fully performed on the knees was particularly striking as the dancers kept slapping their upper thighs and hands in perfect unison, continually upping the tempo.
About halfway through the show the warrior dancer came down and asked if people wanted to try the blowpipe. Francesca was nudging me, but I didn’t want to go at first. However, that was how the whole crowd felt. Eventually, I stood up and raised my hand. I stepped up and got to hold the blowpipe. Several of the dancers were up on the stage with balloons on poles, and I had to aim for one of them. One puff of air later the balloon was gone and I got applause! I asked Francesca to go as well, and tried to get some good pictures. Her first attempt failed as she didn’t blow hard enough, but her second was perfect and destroyed the balloon. More applause!
After the show, we were quite ready to go back to the hostel and catch some sleep. Unfortunately, the people in our hallway thought differently as they were having conversations in the middle of the night, loud enough to wake us up. Francesca yelled once and after some dumb remarks back they left, but it ruined our sleep. We decided to take it easy on Sunday, going to Suriya to watch some movies. With the prices being so low, we actually ended up going to three movies. Francesca really wanted to see ‘The Princess and the Frog,’ so that was our first movie. It was the first Disney movie with a black princess, and therefore quite special.
Unfortunately, nothing innovative like ‘The Lion King.’ The second one was 'Storm Warriors,' an epic battle with Asian Martial Arts and over-the-top special effects. Francesca found this one a little less interesting, and slept a little during that one. In the evening we saw ‘A Christmas Carol in 3D,’ the animated Dickens’ story with Jim Carrey as Ebenezer Scrooge. Well worth it, and totally put us in the Christmas-mood.
On Monday we had to be up early to go to the Embassy. We took a taxi again to make sure we'd be there on time. We got there just after it had opened, and the queue was still relatively short. We had to bring our passports, information about our flights in and out of Thailand, as well as some recent passport pictures. After we had filled out our application forms we had to wait a good hour before the doors to the actual office opened, and there we had to get a number. Luckily I snuck up the stairs fast and managed to get some decent tickets, so we didn’t have to wait more than an hour. The whole process was still quite tiresome, so Francesca and I enjoyed a meal at the nearby Pizza Hut, where she nibbled on a personal pan pizza, and I ate pasta. The rest of the day was quiet as we planned going around the city with the tour bus the following day.
One of the hop-on-hop-off stops was right outside the Monkee Inn, so around 10AM we went outside and bought the tickets. We crossed off the things we had already seen and were left with a nice itinerary for the remainder of the day. Our first stop was a deer park. Francesca had found this on the brochure, which listed the mousedeer, the world’s smallest deer. It took a while to get to the park, but as we entered Francesca saw some enclosures, and spotted her first 'Kancil.’ The excitement in her eyes as the little creature looked at us was moving, and I was glad she got to see several of them. The rest of the park had ‘regular’ deer, and was less interesting, but the mousedeer alone made the visit well worth it. We walked back, spotting the House of Parliament on a hill in the distance, and had to wait some time for the bus, so we planned the next stop.
The map showed the ‘National Theater’ and the ‘National Art Gallery’ were right next to each other, so we hopped off the bus there next. We were not sure what to expect of the theater, but soon found out when were obviously the only tourists there. We heard the national ensemble rehearsing, and looked at some tickets, but they were quite pricey. We made our way to the art gallery, finding a side entrance that led us to the food collection place for the employees in the building. We were getting hungry, so we thought about taking a box and a drink each. However, we restrained ourselves and went to the first floor of the gallery instead. The permanent collection was quite impressive, with pieces from Syed Amad Jamal standing out in particular. His work was so colorful and unique (and had a lot of purple); we both thought his were the most impressive pieces. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take pictures…
(Luckily I found some pictures online; they're perhaps not the best examples of his work, but at least it shows his style.)
As we had been walking for quite a few hours we thought it would be time to take a break, and so we sat down in the Gallery Cafe, where Francesca got a bottle of water and I drank a cup of tea, as well as sharing some tasty watermelon. Bellies refueled and ready to go again! We explored the other floors of the Art Gallery. Some of the floors boasted impressive art in a wide variety of styles from several Asian artists, others were focused more on local talent and not all of it was quite as stunning. But oh well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. On our way out we couldn’t help ourselves and so we picked up one of the remaining drinks that was still standing to bring back on the bus. Again, we had to wait some time for the bus to arrive.
We had to go back to the Embassy to pick up our passports. Luckily, the queue was not as long as I had feared, and the whole process was over quite quickly. Best of all, we didn’t have to pay! Apparently, the Thais thought it was nice not to charge tourists for extended visas, so now we have a 60-day visa and didn’t pay a dime. As we walked back to the bus stop we realized it had just turned the corner in front of us. I tried to run and actually caught up, but it drove off regardless… We had to wait half an hour for the next one to show up. We sat down in a little café for a while, whilst I watched for the next bus. When it turned the corner I ran out and made sure we didn’t miss that one.
By 3PM we arrived at the KL Tower for a short break. It is used for communication purposes and features an antenna that reaches 421 m (1,381 ft), which currently makes it the fifth tallest freestanding tower in the world. The tower is situated on ‘Bukit Nanas,’ or ‘Pineapple Hill,’ which is cleverly referred to as I spotted some pineapple garbage cans.
I was getting a little tired after all the walking, but Francesca wanted to see the ‘Heritage Centre’ she had found online. Knowing she likes cultural history I said okay, and so we headed for the Centre. The bus didn’t actually stop there, so we ended up at the Craft Cultural Complex which was established to promote local arts and handicraft. It housed a museum and a village; all dedicated to showing tourists how the art is made. We were running out of time though, so we asked for directions to the ‘Heritage Centre.’ It proved more difficult than we thought, as everyone we asked shook their heads, having no idea. We kind of guessed the direction based on the map, and eventually managed to find it. The center sadly wasn’t much of a center, as it didn’t have any information, just a traditional longhouse outside. We took some pictures of it and then decided to go to ‘Berjaya Times Square,’ another huge mall we had read about.
It didn’t take all too long to walk there, and as Francesca spotted a Krispy Kreme we had to stop for a drink. She thought she could get a doughnut on the way out, as we were going to eat later. Anyway, we went inside and found a gigantic mall. Francesca found an optometrist, where she tried out some colored contacts, whilst I watched some people playing Jenga outside. The mall was very Christmassy, with large snowmen standing around, and even larger Christmas trees decorating the entrance. Francesca showed me some of her new contacts, which looked cool, but were a little on the expensive side. As we explored the mall Francesca found her prized conditioner, that she’s been using to make her hair look even curlier, and which she’d run out of! A little later we heard screams in the distance, and to our surprise and Francesca’s excitement found a whole theme park, including a rollercoaster inside the mall!
She pretty much ran down to the right floor and we looked at the price for the ride. Unfortunately we would have to pay a ticket to get into the whole park, which we would only be able to enter for a few hours. We did however, explore the park proper and saw the rollercoaster was the main attraction. From up high the mall looked even more imposing, as the people and stalls ten floors below became miniatures. We felt it was high time for dinner, and, still eating healthy I got rice porridge from a local cuisine restaurant. I joined Francesca in Wendy’s where she went for the less healthy option: a burger and fries. She couldn’t finish all of it though, so I did what every mother tells their kid not to do: play with food!
Wednesday, December the 16th was devoted to visiting one of the most popular Hindu shrines outside India, dedicated to Lord Murugan. It is the focal point of Hindu festival of Thaipusam in Malaysia. Batu Caves is a limestone hill, which has a series of caves and cave temples, located in Gombak district, 13 kilometers (8.1 mi) north of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It takes its name from the Sungai Batu or Batu River, which flows past the hill.
According to Wiki: “The limestone forming Batu Caves is said to be around 400 million years old. Some of the cave entrances were used as shelters by the indigenous Temuan people (a tribe of Orang Asli). Rising almost 100 m above the ground, Batu Caves temple complex consists of three main caves and a few smaller ones. The biggest, referred to as Cathedral Cave or Temple Cave, has a 100 m-high ceiling, and features ornate Hindu shrines. To reach it, visitors have to climb a steep flight of 272 steps.”
Indeed, walking up to the stairs and looking at the gargantuan golden statue was extraordinary. We could not imagine the (wo)man hours that had gone into the creation of such an enormous figure. The Wiki says this about the statue: “Standing at 42.7 meter (140.09 ft) high, the world's tallest statue of Murugan, a Hindu deity, is located outside Batu Caves, near the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The statue, which cost approximately $500,000, is made of 1550 cubic meters of concrete, 250 ton of steel bars and 300 liters of gold paint brought in from neighboring Thailand.”
As we climbed the stairs we were once again surrounded by macaques, which were just as ready to steal snacks from tourists as their cousins in other countries. We were getting quite sweaty due to the sun, but climbing the stairs went smooth. At the top we were greeted by a man with snakes and giant lizards, ready to ask a price for pictures. We sailed past him, as well as the souvenir shop, to the opening of the cave. Both sides were covered in statues and paintings in and on the rocks. We descended the stairs to the middle of the main cave and had to go up some again to come to an opening in the rock ceiling, where we found stalagmites (the ones hanging down!) and more groups of statues. We took a bunch of pictures and marveled at the size of the cave, imagining how many people could congregate here. As we were walking back we passed the souvenir shop and read some information about the ‘Thaipusam’ Festival. One of the highlights of this festival is the devotion ceremony:
“The kavadi may be simple wooden arched semi-circular supports holding a carrier foisted with brass or clay pots of milk or huge, heavy ones which may rise up to two meters, built of bowed metal frames which hold long skewers, the sharpened end of which pierce the skin of the bearers torso. The kavadi is decorated with flowers and peacock feathers imported from India. Some kavadi may weigh as much as a hundred kilograms. After a bath in the nearby Sungei Batu (Rocky River), the devotees wend their way to the Temple Cave and with remarkable endurance they climb the flights of stairs to the temple in the cave. Devotees use the wider centre staircase while worshippers and onlookers throng up and down those balustrades off on either side. When the kavadi bearer arrives at the foot of the 272 step stairway leading up to the Temple Cave, the devotee has to make the arduous climb against gravity -- against the press of the bustling masses.”
The walk had made us hungry, regardless of the rather gruesome pictures at the end, so we looked for an Indian place near the exit. Unfortunately for Francesca all of them were vegetarian only, so no butter chicken. Instead we order some roti canai and dips, which we shared, before heading back to the bus stop. We had taken a local bus to the Caves, and still had to find the stop to get back on it. Luckily, some helpful people pointed us in the right direction and we found the stop near a little minimarket. As it started pouring down we were safely sitting inside the stall, waiting for the bus. As soon as I saw it pop up in the distance we got up and got back to the city.
The last day of our stay in the Monkee Inn was a quiet one. We ate at Nando’s, where the Piri Piri Chicken Pitas were delicious. The bags were packed by yours truly, and a taxi was booked for early the next morning. As we went to bed early, Francesca and I also woke up in time, and headed to the airport. As we arrived I asked Francesca to get a trolley, whilst I took the bags out of the car. I thought she’d brought her purse, which only had her sweater in it for the flight, so when I checked the car for any stragglers I saw nothing. As Francesca came walking back I didn’t spot her purse, and saw the taxi drive off. I ran after it but couldn’t catch it… Bye bag… To make matters worse our flight got delayed by almost two hours. Francesca will tell you all about Kuching!
