Kuala Lumpar (or K.L. if you're a cool dude)
Trip Start
Jul 12, 2006
1
26
70
Trip End
Jul 11, 2007
Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Malaysia has not been as much fun as the other countries we've visited. The people are not as friendly as the Thais and generally it doesn't have the "WAW" factor of everywhere else we've been to. It is also a lot more expensive than any of the other countries which isn't so good when you're living on a shoestring. The Indonesians are burning all their crops at the moment too and so there is a huge haze over Malaysia and the pollution levels are really high right now.
We are perhaps being a little harsh here though, we're still very glad we came. It's also maybe getting harder and harder to really impress us after some of the spectacular things we've seen so far.
The one good thing about the time of year we've chosen to visit Malaysia is that it's Deepavali - the main Hindu festival. Deepavali is this Saturday. Cal and I were wondering why there are so many Christmas trees all over the place and tinsel. At first, ignorant us thought maybe they were just lazy and hadn't bothered taking them down but soon the penny dropped!
The shops are all mobbed, just like they would be just before Christmas at home, with everyone buying last minute pressies and food. Neither of us knew much about Deepavali so it's been really interesting. It really is as big, if not bigger than Christmas back home.
It's also nearing the end of Ramadan for Muslims in Malaysia (it's a very religious country but Muslims and Hindus seem to live well multi culturally). Hari Raya, the celebration to mark the end of Ramadan, is on Tuesday so there is "Happy Hari Raya" banners everywhere too. It is a one week public holiday to mark this - if only we got that long a holiday at Christmas time back home!
Part of the Islamic faith is to welcome travellers, and people we've met here have told us that we'll probably be invited into a Muslim person's home on Tuesday for the feast of Hari Raya. It's apparently really rude to decline the invitation. You basically go from house to house and have a feast all day and be merry. Sounds "aw-right"....roll on Hari Raya!
So, Kuala Lumpur. Well it's quite an impressive modern city - almost futuristic. There are huge, impressive Islamic high rises and as I've said there is a fascinating blend of cultures.
We stayed in China Town (cockroaches in room but we dont like to talk about that). The markets were great. All designer clothes at dirt cheap prices and pirate DVDs. I think we could now give blockbuster a run for its money. If you want to rent a movie - come to us - we went a bit O.T.T at the market....
The twin towers were also very impressive. They are the largest free standing buildings in the world apparently. We spent a good while investigating these.
We were a bit museumed out by the time we arrived in Kuala Lumpur so apart from visiting the twin towers, we just spent lots of time chillaxing and getting excited about going to Borneo...
