vagablonding

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!

Tags: art, Islam, Islamic Arts Museum, Kuala Lumpur, Monkee Inn, Museum, Muslim, taxi

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 12:12 pm and is filed under Malaysia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.