We were pleasantly surprised by how much we loved Kuala Lumpur, or "KL" as it's referred to around Asia. We don't know if it was because it was so clean (and paved, still a lot of dirt roads in Cambodia and just dusty in general and of course the pollution is pretty bad all over Asia), or because it was nice to get back to a big city and the ammenities that come along with it, or if it was because it was a bit more modern/western which maybe subconsciously we had been craving, or if it was because its such an interesting place culturally. Most likely it was because of our love for the mall we went to everyday (more on that later). Probably for the reasons listed and more, we needed up thoroughly enjoying KL.
So at first, we experienced a bit of sticker shock - coming from Cambodia and Vietnam, which are both SO cheap, but really it was still much cheaper than home. Except for the alcohol - due to the Muslim influence, the tax on alcohol is crazy high. So we took a break from nightly beers - I think we had one each from a supermarket in the week and a half we were in malaysia. It made us realize (too late) how spoiled we had become on how truly cheap everything was up to that point.
I'll butcher the actually history of Malaysia, which is very interesting, but suffice it to say they have had a lot of different cultures' influence to create the unique that is there today. The strongest and most evident cultures are: 1. Muslim 2. Indian and 3. Chinese but the British were here as well and of course Malay influence starting back when it was more tribal (which Borneo still is much more so from what we've heard). All the cultures and religions co-exist peacefully and intermingle here. Its the most open religious freedom and diversity we've seen.
The Petronas Towers are likely the most famous landmark in KL. They were the tallest buildings in the world from 1998 - 2004 and remain the tallest twin towers., currently ranking 9th tallest. Facts: 351.9 m (1,483 ft) tall, 88 floors plus 5 basements, 78 elevators, 395,000m sq (4,252,000 ft sq) total floor area, double decker skybridge on the 41st-42nd floor. (mom, these were included for you). We went to the skybridge first and felt we were looking down on the entire city. KL has its share of buildings but it is certainly not a skyscraper city like NYC or Chicago so the illusion of being very high is there. Then we went to the observation floor on the 86th floor (I think). The illusion is gone as we are actually very, very high. The mountains outside the city were in clear view. I felt like a kid, just loving it. The building design is Islamic influence glass and metal exterior and is very cool.
There is surprisingly another tall structure in KL - known as the KL Tower. It looks more like the Seattle Space Needle than an actual building. It is a 421m (with antenna) high telecommunications and broadcasting tower which actually appears to be taller than the Petronas Towers because it is built on a hill (515m above sea level). The hills it's built on is surrounded by a small section of protected jungle. We walked to the base and around the park at the bottom but didn't go to the top since it was foggy the day we went so we cannot say for sure which view is better.
Parts of KL reminded us of DC in a way. The National Mosque is at the bottom of a large and lovely park which leads to several memorials, including a beautiful war memorial, which looks vaguely familiar to one we've got in DC. There is also a lake, small amphitheater, several fountains and modern sculpture park. It's quite lovely to walk around.
Along with the DC theme, we came upon Merdeka Square which is where all the original government buildings were built, some of which have converted to various museums and such. And here is where the similarities cease as these buildings are very influenced by Islamic culture. I couldn't stop taking pictures - they are beautiful buildings but also so different from what we're used to in the west.
So last but not least, the Pavilion Mall. It poured rain all afternoon our first day so we found ourselves spending quite a bit of time here that day. This place was unlike any other I've ever seen (not counting the Dubai malls because of course those are enclosed cities, no longer in the same category of malls). It was huge - 6 or 7 stories and not narrow floors likes in some cities but as long as Lynnhaven Mall on each floor all the stores were nice up to high end and it was just beautiful in general. We did some window shopping (they had a superhero store that we spent quite a bit of time in - was pretty cool). But the mall also had a huge variety of restaurants, bars and cafes that were all cool. It also had a great supermarket where we did our snack shopping for awhile. Then best of all was the food court. The bottom level (so same size as all the other levels, see above) was a few restaurants and then tons of food spots. Every variety of food you could imagine: Thai, sushi, Vietnamese, hamachi, western (burgers, etc), Lebanese, the list goes on and on. And all much cheaper than outside, even versus street food. It was awesome. Needless to say we ate here a few times!
Dance time at Johnny Rockets...so Malaysia
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