vagablonding

I was in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from Thursday, March 11th, till Sunday, March 14th. Below are some of my favorite pictures from my 4 days there. You can also check out my posts on the Islamic Art Museum and my visit to the Petronas Twin Towers Skybridge.

I flew with Air Asia from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and was treated to a lovely sunset in the air:

Kuala Lumpur is the capital of Malaysia and is home to almost 2 million people. Unlike Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital which has a higher population and only 1 significantly tall building, Kuala Lumpur is full of skyscrapers. It also has multiple rapid train systems which keep the various areas of the city well connected.

While wandering around near Pasar Seni (Central Market) I saw some Graffiti I really liked:

If you’re a shopper you should check out Petaling Street (Jalan Petaling) in Chinatown. There’s plenty to buy during the day, and a whooole lot more at night when the street gets so packed with stalls and shoppers it takes you 5 minutes to walk 50 feet. It was so dense I couldn’t even get a picture! I personally liked the markets in Phnom Penh better because I found clothes that were more my style there, but there is something for everyone on Petaling Street, and the prices are great! Bargain hard, though. The prices will start out incredibly inflated and you can usually end up paying 1/4th or less of the first price a seller gives you. The walk-away tactic works exceptionally well here.

Another interesting place to check out is Little India. There’s plenty of great food to try, and there’s decent shopping too, especially during the weekly night market on Saturdays.

In Little India I bought myself a Punjabi Suit (beautifully decorated colorful long tunic + pants + scarf). I had been wanting one for a while, and after trying a bunch of shops I found one that I knew was made for me as soon as I saw it. I got the price down from 280rm to 120rm, including adjustments done in shop to make it fit me exactly. I love it so much I want to go to India just so I can wear it all the time 🙂

So there’s this fruit called Durian that smells incredibly terrible. Like gagging when you smell it terrible. Apparently it tastes fantastic though; the saying is “tastes like heaven, smells like hell”. Anyway, durian is banned from most hotels and hostels because of the smell, so you see signs like this up all over:

When it came time for me to leave Kuala Lumpur to go home I went to Kuala Lumpur International Airport and found out that my flight was delayed 6 hours due to snow in Beijing. Lame. I passed the time by walking around and taking pictures.

I ended up missing my 2nd flight and getting stuck in China for 24 hours. Post about that next time on vagablonding dot com!

On Friday, March 12th, I got up early to get in line for one of the limited free tickets for the Petronas Twin Towers Skybridge. The Petronas Twin Towers are the headquarters for the Petronas oil and gas company. Standing 452 m (1,483 ft) tall, the towers were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 to 2004, and they remain the tallest twin buildings in the world today.

At 8am I took the train from Pasar Seni to KLCC for 1.6rm.

The line for the tickets can be found in the basement of the towers. I was in line at 8:15am, they started giving out tickets at 8:30am. You can choose what time you would like your visit to be. Only 40 people are allowed to go up every 15 minutes, so if you care what time slot you get it is best to get there early to be in the front of the line. I chose to go up at 1:15pm to avoid the daily late afternoon monsoon.

I spent the rest of the morning messing around online and getting lunch on Petaling Street. There’s a place where you can get a bunch of vegetarian food for 1rm per scoop, so I got a scoop of cooked veggies and a scoop of bbq tofu, plus soy milk (yay!) for 1.5rm and jackfruit for 1rm. That’s a lot of food for 4.5rm (about $1.35). Food here is very cheap, even cheaper than Cambodia (but not as tasty).

I returned to KLCC at 12:15pm and killed time by going to the Galeri Petronas, an art gallery, in Suria KLCC which is a giant shopping mall attached to the Petronas Towers.

The Galeri was great, it had lots of captivating photographs. I took pictures, but apparently you’re not supposed to and a guard made me delete them. I highly recommend checking out Galeri Petronas if you have 30 minutes to spare. Admission is free. Afterwards I went to the Petronas Towers gift shop where I bought 2 postcards for 0.8rm each.

At 1:05pm I and 39 others queued up to visit the Skybridge on floor 41 which is 170m (558 ft) above ground. The towers have 88 floors but tourists are only allowed to go to the Skybridge. First we were directed into a small film viewing room where we watched a short 3D movie about the Petronas company. I was delighted; I’ll watch anything in 3D.

Next we went through a security check before going up to the Skybridge in a high speed elevator. You can really feel the increase in altitude when you expierience your ears popping and lightheadedness. It reminded me of going up the Eiffle Tower.

We were allowed to walk around on the bridge and take pictures for 15 minutes. It was a great view to enjoy for free!

I got in to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the night of Thursday, March 11th, and checked into the Monkee Inn, a hostel in Chinatown run by Americans. For 30rm (rm = Malaysian Ringgit, 1rm = $0.30) I had a very small single fan room with a really comfy bed, free wifi and breakfast, and a shared bath. Just fine for the price.

On Friday, March 12th, after a welcome breakfast of pb&j, coffee, and Sting for background music, I took a taxi to the Islamic Arts Museum for 10rm (overpaid!). I paid the 6rm student price to get into the the museum, so that makes up for the ripoff taxi.

The museum’s current feature exhibit was Steve McCurry’s photography and it was AMAZING! Here are some of the many pictures that were there:

There was a big group of university-aged Muslim women there, and some wanted to take pictures with me. I’ll miss people asking to take pictures with me when I get home, haha.

The permanent collection of the museum includes many manuscripts, metal work, ceramics, jewelry, weapons, textiles and more. Below are some of my favorite items from the collection.

Enameled Porcelain Bowl and Cover, China, 1772 CE:

Hukkah Base, India, 19th century CE:

Fly Whisk, Horsehair with Silver Mounted Horn Handle, India, 19th century CE:

Kitab Tuhfat Al-Husain Madaih A’Immah, Iran, 1859 CE:

Tashrih Al-Badan (Anatomy of the Body), Iran, 17th century CE:

Al Qur’an, Ottoman Turkey, 1852 CE:

Detail of above:

Bridal Crown, Uzbekistan, 18th century CE:

The museum itself is pretty neat also. Every room has an intricate domed ceiling.

I wanted to go to their apparently amazing Lebanese restaurant, but they were only doing a buffet of non-vegetarian food so that was a no-go. I bought 2 postcards for 2rm each, and took another 10rm taxi back. Tomorrow I’m visiting the Petronas Twin Towers!