From the Perhentian Islands, I set off towards Kuala Lumpur, the (shopping) capital of Malaysia. Being a backpacker, I don’t have space for shopping, so I contented myself with enjoying some pretty amazing food (not as cheap as Penang, but more variety) and seeing some of the cultural landmarks.
Here’s a cool model of Kuala Lumpur:
Places of note:
KL Tower: Yay, another unoriginal tower, surrounded by tourist traps (mini-zoos, motion simulators, art galleries, and trinket shops).
The view from the top is pretty good though!
Patronas Towers: Much more impressive and original. I wonder what it’s like to walk across the bridge between the two towers? Unfortunately, you not only have to wait in line at 7AM to get tickets, but tickets also cost $50, so I wasn’t able to find out.
Somehow, I wasn’t surprised that the lobby of the Patronas towers connected to a giant shopping complex. After all, Kuala Lumpur is a huge shopping destination.
Kuala Lumpur Convention Center: there’s not much to say about the building itself – I wandered in while lost, discovered a real estate convention going on, walked around introducing myself as a first-time investor from NYC, and learned quite a bit about the workings of high-rise investment.
Architecture students who spend days and weeks building models will be pleased to see that there is a use for this skill after graduation:
Lot 10 food court: a fancy underground food court, supposedly very famous. All the food looked amazing, but also double the price compared to Chinatown
National Mosque: very modern and utilitarian. Fun fact: if you’re not Muslim, all photos of yourself in the mosque will automatically be very dark.
Batu Caves: Half an hour away from the city, up a huge flight of stairs, you can see the caves
National Museum: Somewhat badly curated. Here’s a preserved wooden coffin (?) and very long rifles (?)
Museum of Islamic Art: Most awesome. Being non-muslim, some of the exhibits were rather dense (e.g. islamic metalworking and pottery), but some of the others were magnificent
– Islamic-Chinese art is absolutely beautiful:
– Gold leaf on a leaf!
– Qurans and heroic epic with very detailed illustrations:
– It’s cool how there’s a lot of variety in mosque design, all three of the following are mosques, even the Chinese-looking structure!
– Holy shit, katars are real
National Monument: Reminds me of the the Iwo Jima monument
Petaling (Chinatown): amazing food
Some day market:
Islamic market::
Food!
Claypot chicken and rice, absolutely amazing
Assorted beef noodle soup
More noodle soup!
Some kind of a coconut-based cake (delicious)
Bits and Bobs:
This is efficiency: dressing a dummy in a construction uniform, and rigging the hand so that it waves up and down with a warning flag
Smoking, eating, and littering are illegal, but so are having an ET-style glowing finger, breaking your camera, and dancing on the train tracks
On Malaysian trains, women also get their own cars. But most unfairly for men, 3/4 of the cars are women-only.
Monkey (with baby monkey):
The Traveler’s Prayer:
After visiting KL, I traveled to Malacca, the other culture center of Malaysia (besides Penang)!