Malaysia

Tuesday, December 1 continued. After watching an incredible sunset we boarded our plane for the three hour or so flight to Kuala Lumpur (aka “KL”). We landed around 10:30 pm, cleared customs easily and were soon in a cab headed to our hotel – or rather our bed and breakfast. It was about an hour to our B&B and driving into KL it became clear that we were in a major city. We saw lots of shopping malls and fast food restaurants. We checked into our B&B – a wonderful little spot in the heart of KL. It was nothing fancy but it was clean, the beds were very comfortable, there were TVs in each room, it included breakfast and the internet was free – all for the price of around U.S.$40 a night. By the time we settled in it was close to midnight so we headed off to bed.

Wednesday, December 2. Today was the day to do it all. We had planned to go to Langkawi, an island off the northwest coast of Malaysia the following day, so today was to be our only full day in KL Our friend Rachel and her cousin Emily also were staying at the same B&B so we made plans to meet up with them for dinner. Our day started off with a walk to Petronas Towers – often the symbol of Malaysia – twin towers, the second or third tallest building in the world, with a skybridge in the middle that connects the two towers. The trip to the skybridge is free, but there are limited number of tickets each day, so you have to arrive somewhat early to get a ticket. After waiting in line for a bit, we got our tickets. It was looking like we were going to have to come back in the afternoon (due to the number of visitors, each lot or group is only allowed 10 minutes on the skybridge so you have to specify or you are given a specific time to go) – as we got our tickets two slots for right then opened up, so we were able to head right up. We first watched a 3D video on the Petronas Towers – they are the headquarters for Petronas - a huge gas and oil company – and then headed up to the 41st floor to the skybridge. The view of the city was amazing. We then headed back down, walked through one of KL's huge shopping malls, which had every high end store you could think of, from Jimmy Choo and Prada to Burberry and Hermes (and even a California Pizza Kitchen) and wandered through the park in KLCC (aka Kuala Lumpur Center City). From there we briefly checked out the convention center and then decided to hop in a taxi to see the Batu Caves. The Batu Caves are a series of three caves approximately 13 km north of KL that are carved into the side of a mountain. It takes 270 stairs to reach the top and the main cave, Temple Carve, serves as a Hindu shrine. When we arrived there stood a gigantic gold Murga statue – the highest in the world. Once again there were many curious long-tailed monkeys roaming about, proving to be both mischievous and entertaining. Temple Cave itself was enormous and Keith and I spent some time watching the monkeys scale the cliffs that surrounded the Cave. We then headed back to KL to go to KL Towers – the fifth largest radio tower in the world. We were getting a little hungry for lunch so we decided to have lunch at a revolving restaurant at the top of the radio tower. There was a huge buffet and the view was spectacular – definitely better than the view from the Petronas Towers. You could just make out the gold Murga statute at the Batu Caves. We took a stroll around the observation deck and then headed back down. We stopped at a small zoo where they had a number of various creatures. From there Keith and I decided to have a little alone time. Keith headed back to the B&B for a little rest while I set out to walk the rest of the city. I walked through Little India and Chinatown and stopped at the Central Market. I walked through Merdeka Square where Malaysians declared their independence in 1957. After several hours of walking all through the city, I headed back to the B&B for a brief rest before heading out to dinner. Rachel, Emily, Keith and I all headed out to Malaysian buffet dinner and dance. The dancing displayed a variety of different dances from the national Malaysian dance to the dances performed by the tribes in Borneo to Indian dances and Chinese dances. At the end of the performance a number of people got on stage where the dancers taught them a few steps. Our friend Rachel was one of the first people on stage and we all got a laugh as Rachel and the others tried their hand at Malaysian dancing. We headed back to the B&B and called it a night.

Thursday, December 3. Today we had planned to fly to Langkawi but we awoke to soaking rain (the rainy season had started a few weeks ago). We had been trying to find a place to stay on the island, but we had found out the day before that Lima was going on – a huge air show that occurs every two years. Everything was sold out and if it wasn't sold out it was triple the cost. Our taxi driver the day before had even tried to find us a place to stay but had very little luck. He had told us that even the food would be triple the price during Lima. After much debate, Keith and I decided that it was better to just cut our loses and forgo Langkawi. We bid Rachel and Emily farewell – they were off to go jungle trekking in Sumatra and then crawled back to bed for a bit and waited for the rain to stop. I then ventured out to a craft market and wandered around one of the malls. As an aside walking around KL it seems like you could be in any American city. There are many car with just a handful of motorbikes (Bangkok on the other hand has lots of cars and tons of motorbikes going in every which direction). There are Starbucks, McDonald's, TGIFridays, Subway, etc. The city is very clean, there is a monorail system and it is very shiny and new. It was by far the most westernized place we visited in Southeast Asia. Clearly the country does not suffer the great poverty that many of the other countries in Southeast Asia suffer from – probably because of the gas and oil industry. Back to our day... I met back up with Keith and we went to a mall called Times Square – a ten story high mall with an amusement park inside. That night we decided to have a little taste of America. We had dinner at TGIFridays and went to see the movie Couples Retreat. The movie was quite funny and it felt nice to have some things from home.

Friday, December 4. We awoke to more rain. We had booked a day tour to Genting Highlands – a mountaintop retreat 1,700 meters above sea level. Genting is a vacation destination for the people of KL. It's about 1 ½ hours from KL and it provides a cool spot for people to go to escape the heat and humidity of KL. Fortunately it was just Keith and I on the tour. Sadly the rain persisted through much of the morning and we were in the fog for much of the drive. On the way to the top we were supposed to go for a cable car ride but since it was so foggy out, we decided to wait until we were headed back down in hopes that the weather would clear. Genting is one of the worlds largest hotels. It is home to Malaysia's only casino, it has a huge indoor and outdoor theme park and a man-made lake. It's a playground for children and adults alike. Once we arrived Keith and I were free to do whatever we chose for the day. It was quite chilly there so Keith and I both purchased some pants. Keith went to the casino while I did some shopping. Keith won enough money for the tour and dinner that evening, so the day cost us nothing. We went to the Ripley's Believe it or Not. We were supposed to go back on the cable car, but it was still foggy around 4 pm and the wait was going to be 1 ½ hours – we decided just to scratch it and call it day. We drove back to KL and headed out for dinner. We found a fabulous spot close to our B&B which had excellent mojitos and delicious food. We then called it a night.

Saturday, December 5. Today was our last full day in Malaysia and we decided to go on the Hop on Hop Off Bus – a double-decker bus that makes 23 stops throughout KL. Our first stop was the National Palace where we took a few happy snaps. Next stop was KL Lake Gardens – KL's version of Central Park. We spent most of the day wandering around the Lake Gardens. We walked through an orchid and hibiscus garden and went to the Bird Park and Butterfly Park. The Bird Park was actually quite good with many, many different kind of birds – many of which were roaming among the people. After spending the day at Lake Gardens, we hopped back on the bus to head home. The traffic was horrible and it seemed like hours before we finally reached the B&B. Both Keith and I were in desperate need of a drink so we headed back to where we had gone the day before and managed to suck down a number of strawberry mojitos and some nachos. For dinner we had a little slice of home and headed out to California Pizza Kitchen. We then called it a night.

Sunday, December 6. Travel day – destination Coolangata, Australia. After an early start we boarded our plane for the 7 plus hour flight to Coolangata, Australia on the Gold Coast. More on Australia later...