Kuala Lumpur

It's been a week, and even though I really need to get a good night's rest to prepare for this weekend I need to get out my thoughts on KL before I go away again and forget everything.

Kuala Lumpur was a great trip. I went with four other exchange students: Quinn and Adam from Canada and Nani and Carolyn from Illinois. Not such a multi-cultural trip but we met up with a group of Scandinavians later on. Anyways, we took a pretty nice bus (big cozy seats) from Singapore that cost S$28. We left at 9:00 in the morning and arrived in KL after making a few pit stops around 3:00 in the afternoon. See photos of the journey here. The drive was beautiful -- almost the entire way all you could see was a dense forest of nothing but palm trees. I stared out the window the whole time and didn't pay much attention to the movies they were playing. (Rush Hour 3 and Dragon Wars. I wouldn't have watched anyways.)

We stayed in a hostel called Le Village that we read about in a Lonely Planet guide. It was our first time staying in a hostel and it was a wonderful experience. I wrote some things down while I was there, and since I write much better when I'm inspired rather than sitting at my desk in my dorm room, here's a "journal" entry I wrote while there.

11 Jan 08
My first visit to a hostel is surprisingly serene. Everyone is incredibly laid back, open-minded, and carefree, and there is a sense of welcomeness and releaxation that permeates the air. I want to go out in KL to see the bars and experience the club scene, but I don't want to leave this place. The common rooms are cozy with lots of couches, and colorful walls and tons of paintings given to the hostel owners by guests decorate the rooms and hallways. I would love to explore the city and paint what I see here, then leave my work behind for others to enjoy and appreciate. I just need to learn how to paint first.

I watched a movie on the plane ride from Tokyo to Singapore that expressed the concept that happiness is shared. I believe that travelling on my own would be a phenomenal experience and I would never get lonely, simply because of the travellers I would meet along the way.


So that's my "journal" entry ... it's not really a journal, I just jot things down on whatever paper I have available to me at the time, but I like how it sounds so I preserve it here on my blog.

Anyways, Friday we went to Reggae Bar with a German couple, a Dutch guy, and another guy from England, I think. They were all very laid back, fun to talk to, and fun to hang out with.

Saturday morning we got up early to go to the Patronas Towers. They were nice to see and take a few photos of, but 10 minutes in the skywalk was certainly enough.

After seeing the towers and wandering around the mall for a bit we went back to Le Village to pick up Nani (she was feeling sick the night before so stayed in bed) and head to the Batu Caves. We invited Stuart, the guy from Holland, to come see the caves with us. This was my favorite part of the whole trip (with Reggae Bar coming in at a close second!) The caves are located about 30 minutes outside of KL and are a Hindi Temple. It's a very gorgeous sight! The first thing you see walking up to the caves is a giant statue of Lord Murugan, one of the Hindi Gods. It's the largest statue of Lord Murugan in the world at a whopping 42.7 meters. It was truly an amazing sight. Before entering the caves there were 272 steps to climb -- we had to stop every so often to catch out breath -- but we finally made it to the top! Once inside the cave there were a number of Hindi decorations and worship centers (for lack of better word). The back of the cave was open at the top and lots of trees were growing all around it, inside and out. It was a beautiful sight. Unfortunately my camera battery was in jeopardy so I didn't take too many photos.

Later that night we went back to Reggae Bar. The German couple stayed in but Stuart joined us once again, as did the Scandinavians (we call them the Swedes, although only a few of them are actually from Sweden) that stayed in our hostel that night. (They are also exchange students from NTU.) Reggae Bar was a ton of fun, once again, although they played exactly the same music as the night before! It was a bit annoying and I wasn't really feeling the place until we smoked shisha again. And until they started playing only Bob Marley about halfway through the night.

A note about Malaysian shisha: I have smoked shisha a few times in the States and have never felt much of a buzz from it. But after one hit of this I could barely move! I had to get up to use the restroom and didn't know if I would be able to make it -- I thought for sure I would fall over on the ground on the way. Luckily, I was alright. So, the shisha in Malaysia (or at least at Reggae Bar) is really good. And it's tasty.

Anyways, the Australian Olympic Field Hockey team was also at Reggae Bar that night. Some of them were really fun to talk to, but others were a bit a cocky, so I just chilled out at our table most of the night.

Sunday was a very laid back day. We didn't do much because it rained all morning, but once it quit Adam, Nani, Quinn and I walked around a bit and saw the National Mosque. It was quite intersting. We had to take off our shoes and put on robes that covered our entire body and had hoods to cover our hair. (As Ms. Martens said: "That's some Harry Potter shit.") I kept tripping on mine cause it was so long.

All in all KL was a very fun trip. I have a friend who lived in Malaysia, went to school at UW and joined Expo, and moved back to KL after graduation who I wanted to meet up with but I couldn't get my cell phone to work properly. Meeting up with him is one of the only things I wanted to do but didn't get a chance to. Who knows if I'll be in KL again, there's just too many places to see and things to do in Southeast Asia!

Click here for Best of Kuala Lumpur photos